The Prince and the Puppy
by Maltese-Sapphire
Summary: Fed up with Merlin foiling her evil plots, Nimueh decides the only thing to do is to turn him into a puppy. The only way to break the spell is for Arthur to truly miss him. Will Merlin be stuck as a puppy forever? *Set sometime after S1:Ep10*
1. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER 1**

**WRITTEN BY - Maltesegirl50**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY - Maltese-Sapphire**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - First off, this story will be written by two authors; myself (Maltese-Sapphire) and my best friend (Maltesegirl50). **

**We were inspired to write this story after reading a simular story, "Merlin the Puppy" written by MidnightSky101 (who is an amazing writer, btw =P).**

**Anyway, read the first chapter and let us know what you think. Just so you know, the story will be written in a pattern. I'll write a chapter, then Maltesegirl50 will, then I'l wirte one, etc. We also edit eachother's chapters (we're kind of eachother's Beta), but if you find any mistakes of your own, please tell us. **

**Enjoy!**

Merlin walked slowly through the forest, enjoying every step in the fresh air. It was a rare day for Merlin. Arthur had finally decided to give him a day off… mainly because he didn't want Merlin to mess up his hunting trip. Normally Merlin would be offended, but he had been working too much for the past few weeks. He lost count on how many times he saved Arthur's life and also he was still grieving Will.

Merlin wasn't even paying attention to where he was walking. He just took everything in and let his feet take him wherever they wanted. Being born clumsy he tripped more than once, but he just laughed and got back onto his feet and continued walking.

Soon enough Merlin found himself in the forest."Hmm. Not my first choice of a relaxing day but as long as it's away from Arthur, I'm happy", he thought. He walked deeper and deeper into the forest, until he tripped again.

Having tripped for the tenth time that hour, he decided to rest against a tree. He slowly started to fall into slumber. Once again Will appeared in his dreams. Well not dreams. Just memories. He remembered when he accidentally made Will fly into horse dung. They were nine years old at the time.

Suddenly Merlin found himself flung across the clearing straight into another tree.

"Ouch!" Merlin moaned in pain as he fell on the ground rubbing his nose. He glanced around wildly for his attacker, when he was suddenly once again flung into a tree.

"Magic" he thought so he immediately countered the spell, making him drop onto the ground and reveal the attacking sorcerer.

Out of the shadows stepped a woman. A woman in a torn red dress with long black ahir and peircing blue eyes that bore into the soul.

Nimueh.

"Well, well, well. If it isn't the great Emrys" she laughed, a wicked smile on her face. "I've heard about you. I tried to kill you remember?"

"So the poison was meant for me!" Merlin choked as Nimueh cast a spell on him, limiting his oxygen suply and weakening his chances of resistance.

"Arthur Pendragon is not meant to die at my hand. However, if he would die, I'd be trilled. But you Merlin, you're a sorcerer. And you're just a servant for the heir to the throne. Why?" Nimueh asked as she stepped towards Merlin.

"I protect Arthur. Without him Albion won't be united and the killing of sorcerers will go on." Merlin gasped, fighting for air to fill his starved lungs.

"You could end this, warlock. Kill Uther Pendragon." Nimueh said expectantly.

"Never," Merlin snarled at the evil sorceress.

"I want to kill you. You've spoiled too many plans of mine..." An expression of longing crossed Nimueh's face. It was obvious she wanted nothing more than Merlin's death.

" But alas. You are not meant to die at my hand either. So instead, I shall have to settle for the next best thing..." she started muttering a spell.

She spoke so fast that Merlin couldn't understand a word. Suddenly, he felt pain, as though his bones were on fire.

"What are you doing to me?" Merlin yelled as he felt his bones shrink. Suddenly, he found his bones seemed to be changing. He writhed on the forest floor, twsiting as his bones began to shift. He found he was forced into a four-legged position. His fingers were being forced to curl, rendering them useless with his hands- no wait…

"Paws? I have paws" Merlin thought to himself. "Wow this is so… wait…. I HAVE PAWS?' He began to panic and tried to curse Nimueh, but when he opened his mouth he found he couldn't form proper words. His words came out strangled, half-formed, it almost sounded like he was barking.

BARKING?

Merlin's jaw dropped and he slapped his hands… paws on his mouth. He was still in agony, his body going through changes he didn't have the engery to think about. Eventually, the pain left him, and he was left gasping for breath on the floor.

Nimueh laughed. "Even as a puppy you're funny."

"PUPPY?" Merlin shouted but once again, all that came out was barking. He suddenly realised that everything seemed... different. He had lost his colour vision; everything was in black and whte. He could hear much clearer (and much further, he expected). He glanced at his body and found he had FUR! He was covoured in fluffy black fur. He looked to his behind and saw a tail wagging. He felt inside his mouth with his tounge and found he now had sharp dogs' teeth, with long fang-ish canines. "Oh no! What am I going to do?" he ranted, though all that came out was high-pitched puppy barks.

Nimueh said, "There is a counter spell, of course. It's the balance of the world. But, it is a tricky counter spell. And I'm sure you won't get out of it. This really gives me all the time in the world to hatch a fool proof plan to kill Uther. Without you spoiling it for me."

Merlin's heart lept at the thought of a counter spell. He began started yapping uncontrollably at Nimueh. She seemed to understand him. "

I don't believe this! I'm a puppy! A PUPPY! What am I going to do! And WHAT IS THE COUNTER SPELL?"

The sorceress turned to him and said, "There is only one way to reverse the spell. In order to return to your human form, you must make the prince, Arthur Pendragon, truly miss you"

And without another word, Nimueh disappeared into the forest, the faint sound of her laughter echoing in the silence.

Merlin put a paw over his head.

"Some counter spell" he thought to himself. "There is no way I can make _Arthur _miss me. He can't wait to get away from me! I'm doomed..."

He lay on the ground, putting his paws over his eyes and started whimpering. Not only was he in the tiny body of a puppy, he was also at least 3 hours away from Camelot (which was bound to be much longer when travelled by a puppy), and he doubted the gaurds would just let a random puppy wander into the castle alone. He felt completely hopeless.

Suddenly his ears perked up as he heard the familiar sound of Arthur's voice. Merin couldn't believe his luck. Of the whole forest, Arthur had chosen to hunt here! He was saved! If he could just make the prince realise it was him, he could get back to Camelot safely and consult his magic book for answers. He clambered to his paws and began running through the forest, tripping and stumbling a lot more than usual as he got to grips with running properly on four legs. Just as he was getting used to his new agility, he felt his hind leg snag against something in a bush, and he was suddenly yanked upwards as a rope tightened painfully around his leg.

'OH SHIT! RABBIT SNARE!' Merlin cursed as he dangled upside down in mid-air. His leg was in a fair amount of pain, but he knew that if he moved the rope would just get tighter and tighter. He knew that eventually, the hunting party would come back to find him, but he didn't know how long he would have to wait. So to speed them up, he began barking and crying out at the top f his voice to attract their attention. Soon enough, the bushes started moving and a familiar blonde head emerged from the undergrowth.

'ARTHUR!' Merlin cried in relief. All Arthur heard was a normal puppy's yap.

Arthur was completely shocked as to how a _puppy_ had managed to get caught in his snare. It wasn't very often he saw dogs in the forest that weren't hunting hounds. And this one deffinately wasn't. It was small, with fluffy black fur and ears that flopped over comicly. Arthur decided the dog must be a stray; a runaway, or a left-behind from some other group passing through. Wherever it came from, Arthur knew he couldn;t just leave it here.

"Everyone! Get me a knife! We have a stray dog in the rabbit snare!" Arthur commanded to the knights. He cradled the suddenly-excited pup in his hands to take pressure off of the leg.

"Don't worry. I'm going to get you out of it soon." he told the pup, stroking the soft puppy fur calmingly.

Merlin, however, was appaulled.

'A STRAY DOG? I CLEAN YOUR ROOM, I GIVE YOU FOOD, AND I MUCK OUT YOUR STABLES. AND YOU CALL ME A STRAY DOG!' Merlin shouted angrily inside his head. He didn't dare show his aggression. If Arthur thought he was aggressive, he might not take him back home.

"Whoa! Easy there, little guy. Let's get this rope off you." Arthur said holding Merlin steady in his hands as a knight freed his leg with a knife.

As soon as his leg was free, Merlin started kicking excitedly, his thick, fluffy tail lashing furiously and hitting Arthur in the face. Arthur let out a laugh.

"Oh, you have a lot of energy don't you?" he said, trying to get the pup to settle in his arms.

"Sire we better move. It's getting darker and we better be in Camelot before sundown." A knight told Arthur.

Arthur waved him off, "Yes, yes, go pack up. Now you, little guy," he said, holding the puppy up in front of his face to look at him, "Do you want to come to Camelot? I can keep you as my pet."

"… a pet?" Merlin was shocked. "He wants me. As a pet. Oh, I SO want to bite him right now. But, he's my way back to humanity' So Merlin yapped happily and and licked Arthur's hand."Ugh. Soil" Merlin gagged. He was never doing that again.

"Well. You need a name. Hmm... You're jet black, did you know that?" Arthur said ruffling Merlin's belly.

"No, I did not know the colour of my own fur" Merlin thought sarcasticly.

"I know! I'll call you Jet. What do you think?" Arthur asked Merlin. Merlin barked and wagged his tail, but thinking, "Gee, aren't you original. Just miss me already, I already have fleas!"

Arthur picked the black puppy, aka Jet aka Merlin, up and got on his horse. the knights, guards and Arthur galloped home. Merlin started yapping when he saw Camelot.

"Jet, welcome to your new home." Arthur said, while getting off the horse.

"Horray" Merlin thought in a bored tone.

**Well? Like it? Love it? Think it's too crap for words and we should give up on writing now? REVIEW AND LET US KNOW! =D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**WRITTEN BY - Maltese-Sapphire**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY - Maltesegirl50**

**AUTHOR'S NOTE - Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed!**

**Just to let you know, I will be using both Merlin's name and Jet's, depending on who I'm writing from the point of view of. For example, if I'm writing about Arthur, I will use Jet, and if I'm writing about Merlin, I will use his name. **

**Enjoy!**

Merlin's first thought was how odd Camelot looked in black and white. He knew what colour everything was, but seeing it now was like a completely different world. It looked even stranger once Arthur lowered him onto the floor. Everything seemed _huge_! He trotted alongside Arthur into the castle, not really aware of where he was walking. He kept his eyes peeled, hoping to find Gaius. Surely the physician would understand who he was. He was sure he could find some other way to reverse the spell if he could only get to his magic book. Though he had no idea if the spells would still work since he couldn't talk. He didn't even know if he still had his magic!

He realised that they were outside the throne room. Why had Arthur brought him here? Suddenly, the prince lifted him up again and carried him inside, where Uther was sitting in his usual place on his throne, flanked by two guards. He narrowed his eyes as he saw the small fluffy animal in Arthur's arms.

"Arthur, what is that animal doing here?" he asked.

"He's a stray pup we found in the forest" Arthur explained. "He got caught in one of our snares"

"I see. And why did you feel the need to bring it back here?"

"Well, he's only a puppy. He's not supposed to be out in the forest. We couldn't just leave him there, could we?"

"Well he's not staying here!" Uther insisted. "I won't have that animal causing havoc all over my castle"

"Why not?" Arthur argued. "I'm not just dumping him back out in the forest! And what's so wrong about having a dog in the castle?"

"Well, there's..." Uther struggled to come up with a valid reason. "Fleas" He finally decided. "Give it a month, this whole castle will be overrun with vermin"

Merlin was appalled.

"I do not have fleas!" He barked at the king loudly, forgetting that he couldn't speak.

Uther looked at him with distaste.

"See? That thing's aggressive. I'm telling you, Arthur, it's dangerous!"

Arthur sighed.

"Father, he's only a puppy"

"For now, but as soon as he's big enough, that dog will be a dangerous beast capable of tearing people to shreds!"

Uther knew he was exaggerating, but he would do anything to get the upper hand in an argument.

Merlin began to worry. If Uther did throw him out, he'd never stand a chance of reversing the spell. He had to do something, and quick. Swallowing his pride, he jumped out of Arthur's arms and ran over to Uther. He jumped up at the king, barking playfully.

"Argh! Stupid animal! Get it off me!" Uther flinched away from him.

Merlin slid down again, giving the king a wounded look. He began to whine, gently rubbing his head against Uther's leg.

Uther tried to resist the puppy's charm, but he was weakening. He was so... cute. He softened as he looked into those big shiny eyes. How could he throw something so innocent back out into the forest?

"Well..." he wavered. "Maybe he could... stay for a while, and we'll see how it goes" he finally admitted.

The puppy yapped happily in reply, tail wagging happily.

On the way up to his chambers, Arthur was unfortunate enough to run into the last person he wanted to see: Morgana. Being the annoying girl she was, Morgana went crazy over Jet.

"Aww! He's so sweet!" she gushed, taking Jet from Arthur and squeezing his tiny body tightly to her chest.

Merlin gasped for air as he was crushed against her.

"Put me down, I can't breathe!" he yapped at her. However, this just caused her to gush even more.

"Well done, Arthur, you finally managed to remember my birthday AND get me the right present!" she laughed, running her fingers through the soft black puppy fur. Arthur snatched Jet back, scowling at Morgana.

"You know Morgana, most people can remember when their own birthdays are, and if you had even a couple of brain cells in your head, you'd know that yours was a month ago. And he is not your dog, he's mine"

Merlin longed to snap at them that he wasn't a posession.

Morgana chuckled.

"Oh please. You couldn't look after a goldfish, let alone a puppy. I give it a week before you give up and come begging me to take him off your hands."

Merlin hoped it wouldn't come to that. He doubted he would survive a day living with Morgana.

Eventually, Morgana went on her way and Arthur carried on up to his chambers. There, he set Jet down on the floor and let him wander around exploring his new home. Merlin knew he had to keep up a good appearance, so he walked around for a few minutes, pretending this was the first time he had seen this room.

Well, it's the first time I've seen it in black and white, he thought to himself.

"Well? What do you think?" Arthur asked, half expecting a reply.

Jet barked once at Arthur and ran up to the bed. He lept up onto it and began to settle in the middle of the thick covers.

"Hey, get off of there!" Arthur shouted, shooing him off the bed.

"Hey, I have to make this bed every day, the least you can do is let me sleep on it once in a while!" Merlin snapped, which came out as a series of annoyed growls.

"That's my bed, Jet, not yours. Understand?"

Jet skulked off and sat in a corner with his back to Arthur, sulking.

Arthur sighed and left him to it.

A few minutes later, a servant entered with Arthur's dinner. The servant jumped when he saw the puppy staring at him, and hastened to get out of the room. Just for added effect, Merlin barked at him, which caused him to nearly jump out of his skin and let out a scream only worthy of a damsel in distress. If puppies could laugh, Merlin would have been in stitches. It was just too funny to watch that pathetic servant run from a mere puppy.

"Jet, don't start bullying the servants" Arthur told him sternly.

Merlin was amazed. Was Arthur actually showing concern for servants?

"...That's my job" the prince ended with a chuckle.

'Ah well,' Merlin thought while rolling his eyes, 'There's still time for improvement.'

Merlin suddenly realised that he hadn't eaten anything since his breakfast that morning. His stomach growled as his keen sense of smell picked up the scent of Arthur's food. Merlin walked over to the table and began to paw at Arthur's leg, whining for food.

"No, Jet, get down" Arthur shook him off. But Merlin wasn't going to give up. He jumped up at Arthur, barking loudly and demanding to be fed. Finally, Arthur gave in and dropped a couple of chicken legs on the floor for him.

"You're not getting anymore" he told the puppy, who was too busy wolfing down the food. However, it wasn't enough, and his stomach demanded more food. Again, he began whining for food, but Arthur refused to give him any.

"If you shut up for the next 10 minutes, I'll send for some food for you, alright?" Arthur was beginning to get annoyed by Jet's persistent whining. However, the pup seemed to see reason and stopped annoying Arthur and let him eat in peace.

True to his word, Arthur sent for a servant to get some dog food from the kitchens.

Dog food? Merlin was disgusted at the thought of eating dog food. Still, he was a dog now, so he guessed he had no choice.

It wasn't actually that bad really. Merlin stared at the bowl in front of him with distaste. He could identify some of the stuff in there; there were some dark meaty chunks which he assumed was liver, kidney, or some other organ no one else wanted to eat. He could also see some long strings of fat which had been trimmed from steaks, and he assumed those were chunks of potato, but it was hard to tell when they were going a bit off-colour. All this was swimming in leftover gravy. He was basically being expected to eat the leftovers no one else wanted.

Ah well, beggars can't be choosers, Merlin told himself, and stuck his muzzle in the bowl and began to eat. Despite his first impression, Merlin actually found the food to be quite tasty. He could get used to this...

Arthur watched as Jet eagerly gulped down the food, the bowl sliding across the floor in his eagerness. Personally, he didn't know how dogs could eat that muck. At the end of every meal, the leftovers would be taken back to the kitchens, and everything would be thrown together as food for the hunting hounds. Being a prince, Arthur couldn't imagine eating anything that had once been on someone else's plate. Still, it seemed to be good enough for Jet.

Feeling quite full, Merlin pushed the empty bowl back towards Arthur with his nose.

"You can take this away now" he told the prince (which of course was just a yap to Arthur). Merlin felt overjoyed to have Arthur doing all the work for once. Arthur picked up the bowl and left it on the table for a servant to come and collect. He glanced around his chambers, which could do with a good tidy. He was starting to regret giving Merlin the day off.

"Good thing that idiot servant of mine is back tomorrow. My chambers are a mess"

Merlin felt a stab of anxiousness. What was Arthur going to think when he didn't turn up for work tomorrow?

Merlin suddenly let out a huge yawn. Why did he suddenly feel so tired? He guessed puppies had less energy than humans. He let out another yawn which was accompanied by a loud groan.

"Tired, are you?" Arthur said. "Best find you somewhere to sleep then..."

After some thought, he took a couple of spare blankets and made Jet a bed on the floor by the fireplace.

"Here you go" He beckoned Jet over, and the puppy sleepily dragged himself over and collapsed onto the blankets.  
"Sleep well then, Jet" Arthur gave him a quick scratch behind the ears before heading off to do some of the paperwork that had been building up over the last few days. He hated doing tariff sums, but it was one of the crucial jobs involved in running a kingdom.

Merlin shifted around on the blankets, trying to get comfortable. The blankets were lumpy and he couldn't rearrange them very easily with his paws. It was tricky finding a comfortable position to sleep in as well. He was still getting used to his new body, and he couldn't work out which was the best position to sleep in. He lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. He couldn't sleep like this. Eventually, he heard Arthur getting into bed and had an idea. He waited a few more minutes, and then scrambled to his feet and walked across the room to the bed. After several tries, he managed to jump up onto it. He had thought that Arthur was asleep, but he was mistaken.

Arthur sighed in annoyance. What was wrong with this puppy? Did he not understand that most living creatures went to sleep at night?

"Jet! Get down!" he snapped, trying to nudge the puppy off with his leg. But he gripped the covers tightly with his claws and refused to get down. Instead, he half crawled up the bed to lay down on one of the pillows beside Arthur. Sighing again, Arthur gave up and let him have his way. He turned away from Jet and waited to fall asleep.

"Night, Jet" he called sarcastically.

From behind him, he heard a sleepy whine which he assumed was a reply.

**As a thank you for reviewing so quickly, we thought we'd give you the picture we're basing Jet on. We decided on a black German Shepherd because we couldn't find many other suitable breeds which would have exsisted in Medieval times (I know, this dog was only in Germany back then, but let's not be too specific). There's weren't many pictures to choose from, but we chose this one because we fell for the evil smirk on his face. =P **

**THE LINK FOR THE PICTURE CAN BE FOUND ON MY PROFILE PAGE.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**WRITTEN BY - Maltesegirl50**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY - Maltese-Sapphire**

**Heya everyone. This is maltesegirl50 :) I want to thank you all for your reviews. It means a lot to us. We hope you're all enjoying the story as much as we are. We are each other's beta but if you find any mistakes please tell us. Your involvement in the story means a lot to us. Also if you have any ideas tell us as well :) we appreciate it. So enough rambling. **

_**NOTE: When I write thoughts I usually write them in different style. It helps me as not to be confused. But if it confuses you guys more just tell me and I'll re arrange it. So. Merlin's thoughts will be : **_'like this'_**, Arthur's thoughts will be : **_**'like this' **_**, uther's thoughts will be : 'like this' and if we have Gaius' thoughts they'll be **__**'like this' **__**and if there's anyone else in the room they'll be **__'like this' __**I probably just confused y'all and I'm sorry. xD but it makes sense to me. just try it out in this chapter. If its confusing, tell me. :)**_

_**Maltesegirl50**_

Light shone through Arthur's room directly his eyes. Arthur moaned as he opened one eye, closing it quickly.

"Merlin. Close the curtain," Arthur mumbled as he turned over.

As he turned he heard a little yelp coming from underneath him. Arthur looked down and saw that he was resting on something black. Arthur got up quickly from the bed and grabbed his sword but the thing moved and looked at him and starting growling.

'He doesn't let me sleep even when I am a dog!' Merlin thought angrily as he began licking his tail, as Arthur has put all his body weight on it. 'I was right. He is getting fat' Merlin thought.

Arthur looked confused at the creature on HIS bed. He was ready to yell for Merlin till he remembered,

"JET!" he yelled, causing the poor dog to jump in fright and fall off the bed.

"… Oops" Arthur said, dropping his sword as he rushed to the little dog.

When he reached Jet, the puppy turned to him and started barking and yapping at him.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Arthur apologised as he patted Jet's tail gently.

Merlin's mouth dropped open. Arthur had apologised!

"Right, so he'll apologise to me when I'm a dog, but not when I'm a human", Merlin thought bitterly and turned his back on the prince.

"Oh great. Now the dog is mad at me." Arthur shook his head and started to get dressed. As he was putting his sword in its sheath, he muttered (half to himself and half to Jet), "I'm hungry." As if on cue, a knock sounded through the room.

"Come in, Merlin. About time as well." Arthur said. Jet stopped licking his tail and looked up at the door, his tounge lolling out.

A young woman stepped inside with a big tray. "Your breakfast, sire" she said and put the tray on the table, curtsied and turned to leave.

"Wait. Where's Merlin?" Arthur asked as he sat down to start eating.

"I don't know sire. He didn't show up for your breakfast today. I thought maybe he's sick so I brought it up myself." The girl explained, looking down at the floor.

"Hmm. Or he just slept it. As usual" Arthur commented as he bit through the sausage.

"Hey, I do not sleep in! ...Mostly" Merlin barked at Arthur.

Upon hearing the bark, Arthur assumed that Jet was hungry, so he told the servant to get some dog food from the kitchens. She quickly returned with the food, which Merlin quickly devoured.

"Anything else sire?" the girl asked respectfully.

"Hmm? Oh no, you can go" Arthur said with his mouth full of food.

The servant was just opening the door when Arthur added, "And thank you"

The servant looked back at her prince with her mouth wide open in surprise. She made eye contact with the puppy by Arthur's feet, who looked back at her as if to say he was just as surprised as she was.

'_Those eyes...'_ she thought as she turned back to leave.

'He never thanks me' Merlin thought sadly to himself, letting out a little cry.

After Arthur had finished eating, he prepared to leave for training and quickly put down a bowl of water for Jet.

"Now you behave yourself while I go training" he told the puppy, as if he expected him to understand. "And if Merlin comes in, just go with him wherever he goes." He added and left, shutting the door behind him.

Merlin decided that if he had to stay here, he may aswell have some fun. Choosing to ambush the bed first, he took a few spaces back and took a running jump at the bed, landing on the pillows. He started to laugh, or bark, and began jumping around, chasing his tail at the same time. Being a dog was fun, he thought. He collapsed on the pillows and was about to fall asleep until a sudden evil idea popped into his head.

He was a dog and he was alone in Arthur's room. While he was human. Arthur treated him like crap and never apologised or thanked him. So.

"Time for revenge", Merlin thought. "Doggy style" He grinned evilly.

He leaped off of the pillows and began biting and clawing at them, tearing them to shred and causing feathers to fly everywhere. After the pillows, he turned his attention to the bed sheets, shredding them to ribbons.

He then leaped off of the now feeble excuse for a bed and began work on the table. Gripping a leg with his paws, he began clawing at the wood. He thought the finished result was worth the splinters in his paw pads.

Than he moved to Arthur's boots and started nibbling through them, just like the rat had once done (unlike the rat, however, Merlin didn't expect to be turned into a stew).

Merlin chose the bookcase as the subject of his grand finale. It was filled with books; not only fictional, but also important documents, letters and records. Using all his stregnth, he managed to pull the bookcase out from against the wall so he could get behind it, and then reared up onto his hind legs to push it forward, sending the entire contents crashing onto the floor. Clambering out of the wreckage, Merlin was satisfied that this mess was enough payback for everything Arthur had ever put him through.

Merlin yapped in happiness and made his way towards the door. He had had his moment of fun, now he needed to go and find Gaius (and his magic book). There _had_ to be another way to reverse the spell.

Merlin knew the way from Arthur's room to Gaius's chambers by heart. He could walk it with his eyes closed. He did, actually. Every single morning. So he could enjoy the last few moments of peace for the whole day.

As he was running down the now huge corridors of the castle Merlin slipped and went crushing into something firm.

"Even as dog, I'm still clumsy" Merlin groaned. Suddenly, Merlin was picked up from the floor. "Morgana!" he thought automaticly, starting to panic and trying to struggle away from the tight grip.

"Are you okay?" he was asked. Merlin was confused by the masculine voice and glanced upwards to see Uther. Merlin couldn't help but be confused.

"First Arthur, now Uther! Do I really have to be a dog for them to actually like me?" He whined loudly and Uther put him down again"

"Why are you running around alone, eh? Come with me. A palace is no place for a dog to run around and cause mayhem."

Uther said and started walking, looking back to make sure the puppy was following him.

Merlin hanged his head and followed him, "Where the heck is he taking me?"

Arthur left his room and hurried up to get to the training field. He had some new possible knights to try out. He doubted he'd find anyone though. It seemed to him that the noble sons had been getting lazier and lazier.

As he passed the chambers where Gaius and Merlin lived he realized that Merlin still hadn't turned up for work today.

"That lazy ass is still asleep"Arthur thought and jogged up the stairs to wake his servant up.

He opened the door and found Gaius preparing some remedies. Alone.

"Gaius, is Merlin still asleep?" Arthur asked.

Gaius looked surprised and was panicking. The truth was that Gaius hadn't seen Merlin since the day before, and was begining to worry. He had planned to go and look for him, but he wasn't about to tell Arthur that. The prince was bound to assume Merlin was just skiving off work.

"Uh... Well you see Sire. I sent Merlin to, uh... gather me some herbs from the outskirts of the kingdom. Of course, that's quite far from here, so I assume it will take him some time to get back"

Gaius was impressed by his own quick thinking.

Arthur nodded.

"I see. Well when he comes back tell him that I have a new puppy that he needs to take care of while I'm away training."

"A puppy, sire?" Gaius asked surprised.

"Yeah. A stray. Found him yesterday during the hunt. He was caught in one of our traps, poor thing." Arthur said and turned to leave.

"Sire? Does your father know? About the puppy I mean." Gaius called after him. Surely Uther wouldn't have permitted Arthur to keep a stray puppy. Uther was as warm to stray animals as he was to sorcerers.

"Of course he does" Arthur replied. "He allowed me to keep him as long as he doesn't cause any trouble" Arthur then quickly left the physician's chambers to return to his own rooms.

Gaius sighed and turned back to his food. "Oh Merlin" he thought to himself. "Why do I get the horrible feeling something's happened?"

Merlin followed Uther obediently, whch was deffinately a first in his time in Camelot. Uther led him towards the court room and Merlin barked in confusion. Uther looked down at the puppy and said, "Well Jet, you're staying with me for now, since my son abandoned you."

"… Okay. I just might get used to this. I don't get treated like this when I'm human!" Merlin thought happily, and automaticly began chasing his tail. He could see why dogs liked doing this; it was becoming addictive.

Uther laughed at the sight and motioned for the guards to open the doors.

As he walked in, everyone stood up and bowed their heads in respect, but out of the corner of their eyes, they saw a four legged creature trailing behind their king and they couldn't all help but think,

_"What the hell is a puppy doing in the court room?"_

Uther sat down and the puppy jumped onto his lap. All the noble men stared at Uther who sipped his wine.

"Well are you all going to stay on your feet throughout the whole meeting?" he asked, and everyone took their que sit down immediately.

"Now," Uther began rifling through the papers in front of him, "Are the taxes all being paid accordingly?" he asked one of his noblemen.

The nobleman tried to speak but found himself distracted by the puppy on the king's lap, which was busy helping himself noisily to the king's food.

"Well?" Uther barked, scaring the nobleman AND the puppy.

The nobleman cleared his throat and tried to speak again but his mouth dropped open as he witnessed his fearful king stroking the puppy's head.

After spending most of the morning training his knights and trying out potential future knights, all Arthur wanted to do was collapse on his bed and sleep till the next century. He dragged himself to his room and opened the doors. He took one look inside his room and dropped his sword from his hands, his mouth falling open in shock. The first thought that went through his mind was **"TORNADO!" **He stepped into the room, avoiding the large amount of mess on his floor. Bending down, he picked up one of his boots. Something had gnawed right through the leather. Arthur looked up from the boot and roared angrily, "JET! WHERE IS THAT DAMNED DOG?"

Merlin was having the time of his life. It wasn't an everyday occasion that you got to see a room full of noblemen speechless. Merlin wasn't an idiot, even though many people would disagree. He knew that he was the centre of attention in the room.

Suddenly, Arthur burst into the room, clearly not happy. 'Oh no' Merlin thought, ducking his head.

"I AM GOING TO KILL THAT DAMNED PUPPY!" Arthur yelled, drawing his sword from it's sheath.

"I'D LIKE TO SEE YOU TRY!" Uther yelled back. He stood up, drawing his own sword and sending Jet sliding onto the floor.

As the prince and king of Camelot started fighting, Merlin slipped quickly left the court room in search of refuge, leaving the noblement in an awkward, shocked silence.

_**Like it? Hate it? Drop me- I mean us, a line :) it means the world to us. We get like a pair of 3 year olds on Christmas morning when we see your reviews! xD**_


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**WRITTEN BY**** - Maltese-Sapphire**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY**** - Maltesegirl50**

**Well, once again, I'd like to thank you all for reviewing. It makes us both swell with pride to know that we're not wasting our time on a story no one's reading. I also thought you'd like to know that we haven't actually finished planning this story yet. We have no idea how it's gonna end! We haven't begun to plan past chapter 6. But rest assured, faithful fans, we shall never surrender to the evils of writer's block! **

**Enjoy!**

**NOTE:**** We recieved one review telling us that the characters were kind of out of character, especially Merlin. We didn't intend for this to happen, but what we would like to explain is that we're taking a different approach to Merlin's character in this fic, because he isn't the normal Merlin people usually see him as. We decided that he's kinda thinking "Hey, I can get away with it now!" Basicly, he's enjoying it while it lasts. But thanks for letting us know, and we'll always try to make sure we keep it as real as we can.**

**THANKS :) Maltese-Sapphire & Maltesegirl50 xxx**

Merlin ran as fast as his small legs could carry him, until he was far away from the courtroom. He knew from experience that when Arthur was in a bad mood, it was best to stay as far away as possible. But when Uther and Arthur butted heads? Battling a griffin bear handed was better. So instead, he decided to try and resume his expedition to Gaius's chambers. However, when he looked around to get his bearings, he couldn't recognise where he was. He was certain he would have automatically known where he was if he was human, but he still couldn't get over how much bigger everything looked now he was barely 30cm tall and the black and white vision didn't help either. As a last resort, he decided to start walking in a random direction and hope that he ended up somewhere he recognised. He had been walking for about 10 minutes when he realised that he had somehow made his way out of the castle and was only a few minutes away from the stables. And Gaius's chambers were surely a long walk away, from a puppy's point of view, so he decided he would go and pay the horses a visit. After the scene he had just escaped from, he thought he deserved some fun.

He nudged open the door of the stables with his nose and trotted inside. He was frustrated to find that everything was either too unreasonable to destroy or placed on a shelf or hook high out of his reach.

"Damn" Merlin thought to himself. "No damage to be done here"

Unless...

Merlin gazed at the horses. The huge, powerful animals towered high above him, their heavy, metal-clad feet clopping threateningly. One swift kick of one of those hooves could send him flying. Still, he wouldn't be a puppy forever. And what was life without a little risk, anyway? Dashing up to the horses, he leaped around their ankles playfully, barking loudly and snapping at their feet with his teeth. The horses were soon driven into a state of panic. They jerked around wildly as far as their tethers would allow them, terrified of this tiny intruder. Merlin couldn't help but laugh. It seemed their tiny horse brains couldn't tell a puppy from a wolf! Oh, he was loving this!

"Jet! What on earth are you doing now?"

Merlin froze at the sound of Arthur's voice. He glanced round at the door to see the prince standing there, arms folded, looking rather annoyed.

"Uh oh" Merlin thought to himself. "Now I'm in trouble..."

"Come here" Arthur ordered sternly.

The puppy crawled over to him, tail drooping sadly.

Arthur tried to be angry with Jet, but he couldn't. Those eyes were too big and innocent.

He sighed in frustration.

"Honestly, do you make it your life's mission to cause destruction everywhere you go?" he asked hopelessly, half expecting a reply.

Jet barked and wagged his tail.

Arthur shook his head with a smile, bent down and picked Jet up by the scruff of his neck and carried him out of the stables.

"Ah! Arthur, put me down! You're hurting my neck!" Merlin thrashed around in mid-air, trying to get free, but with no success.

Arthur carried the puppy back inside the castle and set him down on the floor once they were inside. He then led Jet towards a place he always tried to avoid as much as possible. Morgana's chambers. He knocked loudly on her door, and tried to ignore the smug look on her face when she opened it.

"Well, it appears I misjudged you, Arthur" she remarked smugly. "I gave it a week, but you've barley lasted a day!"

Arthur sighed.

"Look, just keep an eye on him for a few hours. I've got work to do, and this thing can't seem to go anywhere without causing trouble."

Morgana cooed at the black puppy that was gripping Arthur's jacket with his claws.

"And what could such an adorable little thing have done that was so terrible?"

"He's been destroying my room and scaring my horses to death! My God, he's even worse than Merlin!" Arthur huffed handing Jet to Morgana. "Just don't squeeze him to death"

"NO ARTHUR! DON'T GO!" Merlin barked after Arthur."I SWEAR I'LL BEHAVE! PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME WITH HER!'

Merlin tried to claw his way out of Morgana's clutches, but with little success.

Morgana took Jet inside. "Oh was the big bad prince mean to the cute puppy?" she cooed, holding him like a baby.

"Morgana? Is that... a puppy? Oh how cute!" Gwen exclaimed as she joined Morgana in cooing to the poor terrified dog in her hands.

"Gwen?"  
"Yes my lady?"

"How about we bathe him? He looks so dirty." Morgana said to Gwen.

"Alright then" Gwen agreed with a smile. "I'll get the water ready.

"Great idea Gwen." Morgana said and walked over to the water.

Jet started yapping and tried to get out of Morgana's hands as he was lowered to the water.

'NO. Please Gods no, I'm begging you! Get me out of here! AH! HOT WATER!"

Morgana started scrubbing Jet hard with one of her brushes. The puppy started crying as the hot water scalded him.

"Gwen, hand me the soap please" Morgana asked her maid. For a couple of seconds, her attention turned from Jet to Gwen.

Merlin seized his golden oppertunity. As soon as both women turned their backs to him, he bit Morgana's hand hard. She gasped in pain and released her grip on Jet. Not wasting a second, the puppy leaped out of the bath.

"GWEN GET HIM!" Morgana said franticly, rubbing the bite mark on her arm.

Gwen started to chase after the fleeing puppy, Morgana following soon after.

Merlin was running for his life. He had no idea where he was and he didn't stop to see where he was going. He only had one thing in mind.

'Get away from the cooing females'

He may like Arthur's attention, but Gwen and Morgana were downright scary.

Soon enough, Merlin found himself out of the castle. He was going to stop for a rest, he heard Morgana and Gwen shouting after him as they ran. Cursing them both, he started running once more. Halfway to wherever he was heading, he realized that it was raining quite heavily. He hoped that the rain scared off the girls and chanced a look back. No such luck. A drenched Morgana was hot on his heels followed by an equally drenched Gwen.

Unfortunately, Merlin wasn't looking where he was running (as usual) and went charging straight into a tree.

He let out a howl of pain as he collapsed on the ground.

"HE'S HURT! GUINEVERE HE'S HURT!" he distinctively heard Morgana yell. Merlin looked back dizzily to see the blurred shape of Morgana coming closer.

"MORGANA! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY FLIPPING DOG?" he suddenly heard the angry voice of Arthur yell.

"Arthur," Morgana gasped as she fell to her knees beside Jet.

Arthur knelt down next to Jet and picked the limp puppy up in his arms.

"EXPLAIN!" he screamed at Morgana, causing Jet to whine at the loud noise and nuzzle his head into Arthur's neck.

"We were just giving him a bath. And then he bit me and ran. We were trying to catch him and he ran into the tree. I swear Arthur, I didn't harm him. I couldn't harm him!" Morgana cried and Gwen put her arms around her mistress and friend.

Sighing, Arthur carried Jet back inside the castle and up to the spare chambers he was now sleeping in, since his own was still in a state of disaster. Once they arrived, he lay Jet, who had now passed out from dizziness, down on a cushion in front of the fire to dry off.

After drying himself off, Arthur called for a servant to bring dinner, for him and for Jet.

At the smell of food Merlin started waking up again. He was so dizzy. He supposed he had a slight concussion from the tree collision. Could dogs even get headaches? Apparently so, Merlin felt as though his head was about to split in half. He crawled over next to Arthur's chair and collapsed on the floor, whining slightly.

Arthur looked down at Jet. "Here you go, boy" he put the bowl of dog food down next to him. "Don't worry. You're never going to Morgana ever again." he assured the puppy.

Jet looked up at Arthur and gave his as much of a smile as dogs could manage before attacking the food in his bowl.

When they finished eating, Arthur arranged Jet's bedding in front of the fire before heading into his own bed for the night.

Just as he had done the night before, Merlin tried to jump up onto Arthur's bed, but this new one was too high and he have the energy to jump high enough. So instead, he started to whine."

"Jet! Shut up and go back to bed!" Arthur called to the puppy, but he refused to give up. Eventully, Arthur reached down and lifted Jet up onto the bed, just for some peace and quiet.

Jet curled up on the pillow next to Arthur, a pleased look on his face. Arthur absent-mindedly began to run his hand through the soft black puppy fur as they both fell asleep.

"You know Jet. I hope Merlin arrives tomorrow" Arthur commented, half-asleep. "Today was pretty boring. No sarcasm or funny comments to annoy me. I never thought I'd say it, but I'm kinda missing his idiotic ways"

Merlin, who hadn't really been listening, was suddenly wide awake again. He perked up his ears in surprise, hoping this was enough to change him back. He waited to feel something inside him change... Any minute now, he started to think he might be feeling something...

He looked down at his body and saw that he was still a dog. Disappointment swelled inside him like a balloon. He looked across at Arthur, puzzled.

Arthur chuckled slightly and added, "Still. It's nice to get away from his uselessness once a while" before finally falling asleep.

Merlin let out a small whimper of sadness and rolled over, turning his back on Arthur.

**As usual, we'd like to take this oppertunity to shamelessly beg for your responses. We love to hear what you think and we are always open for suggestions. Plus reviews make us happy! And if you think we don't deserve it, don't hesitate to tell us what a load of sh*t this is. XD**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**WRITTEN BY**** - Maltese-Sapphire**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY**** - Maltesegirl50**

**Well, here we are, chapter 5 already! I had no idea we'd be updating so fast! We've kinda settled into a routine now; write and edit a chapter during the day, post the chapter at night (I'm sure this routine will be broken once school starts again, but we'll try and update as frequently as possible).**

**I've just checked, and I was right when I guessed that most of our first readers would be American, considering the time zones and stuff. **

**And I know this because I've just taken the time to check all your profiles so I could say...**

**Hi to all our readers in America! *waves***

**Hi to Ukrainian reader! *waves***

**Hi to our Aussie reader! *waves***

**And hi to our British reader! *waves***

**If I missed anyone out, sorry, but I couldn't see your country on your profile page. =P**

**Enjoy!**

Merlin woke sometime after Arthur the next morning. When he did finally wake, it was the sound of breakfast being delivered that woke him. Yawning, he rolled over- and fell out of the bed. He landed painfully on the floor with a yelp.

"Ow..." Merlin groaned, getting up and shaking himself awake.

Arthur sighed and shook his head at the puppy.

"Honestly, you're clumsier than Merlin" he said, putting down a bowl of breakfast for Jet.

Just as they finished eating, there was a knock at the door.

"Come in!" Arthur called. "And Merlin, you-"

He paused when he saw that it wasn't Merlin. It was another servant. He looked a few years older than Merlin, and had an irritatingly eager look on his freckled face.

"Has my idiot servant still not come back yet?" Arthur asked, sounding disappointed.

"No sire" the new servant replied. "Since he still hasn't returned yet, I volunteered to replace him"

Merlin stared at the man in shock. He'd only been gone TWO days, and this fool thought he could just come and take his job! Well, he'd soon see to that...

"Well, I'm off for training then" Arthur announced, grabbing his sword and sliding it into its sheath on his belt. "What was your name?"

"Rowan, sire" the servant said immediately, eagerness evident in his voice.

"Right. Well, Rowan, just give the room a clean, polish my boots, change the bed sheets... oh, and watch over Jet. Make sure he doesn't get into trouble."

At which point, Rowan noticed the small black puppy giving him a distasteful stare from across the room. The look in his eyes told Rowan that this dog did not want him here. Rowan returned his glare. He'd rather that dog weren't here either. Those eyes staring at him were creepy.

Once Arthur left, Rowan began attending to the tasks the prince had set him. Merlin noticed he seemed very dedicated to his work. He was sure Rowan had scrubbed right through the leather of Arthur's boots. Once that job was done, he moved on to cleaning the room. Merlin walked over to the boots Rowan had just polished and had to admit, he was amazed how shiny they now were. This wouldn't do.

"If Arthur noticed how great that guy is, he might want to replace me permanently!" Merlin thought to himself. There was only one thing he could do to secure his job. Without hesitating, he took one of the boots in his mouth and began to savage the leather as if it were a giant steak. He tore away at the boot until it was ripped to shreds. After doing the same with the other boot, he went back to giving Rowan evil glares, pleased with his work.

It wasn't until he'd finished cleaning the room that Rowan discovered the ruined boots. Merlin thought the look of shock/horror on his face was worth being chased around the room with a broom. As he ran from the angry servant (who was shouting abuse at him in the process), he made sure to knock over and destroy anything in his path, completely ruining all Rowan's hard work. If it had been any other servant, Merlin would have felt extremely guilty. But this was the man who planned on replacing him. He might be a puppy, but he was NOT going to let that happen.

Speeding through the room, he made for the door, hoping to escape from the room. However, he found it was firmly shut. He jumped up at the handle, but he was too small to reach it. He was trapped. Rowan grabbed the snarling puppy by the scruff if the neck, digging his nails into the skin. Jet growled at him, baring his teeth threateningly.

"I think you need to be taught a lesson..." Rowan's voice was low and threatening. He was normally OK with dogs, but this one had gone too far. He'd wanted the job of Arthur's manservant for ages, and this one puppy wasn't going to stand in his way.

Anger boiled inside Merlin. Using all the force in his body, he swung his paws upwards, gripping the round Rowan's wrist. He clawed viciously at the man's skin, easily drawing blood.

"Argh!" Rowan screamed and dropped the puppy.

Clutching his wrist, he first glanced at the deep scratches and then at the growling puppy on the floor.

"Stupid mutt!" he yelled angrily and aimed a kick at Jet.

The puppy let out a frightened cry at Rowan's boot collided heavily with his ribs.

Rowan was pleased that the little nuisance had gotten what he deserved. Unfortunately, he didn't know that Arthur was standing behind him and had seen the attack.

Arthur sneaked up behind the servant, and just as he aimed another kick at Jet, whispered in his ear.

"You do that again, and I will have your head"

Rowan froze in fear. He turned round to see the furious face of prince Arthur glaring down at him. He tried to defend his actions as best he could.

"Sire, this dog of yours had been causing mayhem! I've spent so long working on the jobs you gave me, and he has gone and ruined it all!"

"That's still no excuse for kicking a defenceless puppy!" Arthur shouted at him furiously. "Now get out of my sight and be glad I'm not taking the matter further!"

Rowan scurried out of the door quickly.

"Oh, and Rowan" Arthur called.

Rowan paused and turned round.

"You're fired. Remove yourself from the castle by tonight or I will do it for you"

Rowan slammed the door behind him and stormed off down the hallway, muttering angrily to himself.

Arthur's expression softened as he knelt down to examine Jet. He carefully felt around the area Rowan had kicked, making sure he wasn't hurt.

Merlin decided to play up to the poor injured puppy image, and whined in distress as Arthur examined him.

After assuring himself that Jet was fine, Arthur looked around the room to assess the damage. In all fairness, Rowan was right when he said that Jet had been causing trouble. Arthur noticed the pair of destroyed boots discarded on the floor, and that several more objects around the room had been damaged.

He sighed and looked down at the puppy staring up at him with those big eyes that seemed to speak.

"Jet, you really are a trouble-maker" he told the puppy whilst stroking one of his floppy ears. Jet nuzzled his hand happily.

Arthur tried to be serious with him, but it was hard to be stern to such a cute face. Forcing himself to take charge, he held Jet's head in his hand and made the puppy look directly at him.

"It's time you learnt how to behave yourself, Jet" he said firmly. "Starting tomorrow, I'm going to start training you"

He stood up and walked away to take off his armour, leaving a gob-smacked puppy behind him.

"Training" Merlin thought to himself. "Great. Just when I thought it couldn't get any better..."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

**WRITTEN BY**** - Maltese-Sapphire**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY**** - Maltesegirl50**

**You may have notice that this is the third chapter I've written in a row, so I'll explain that now.**

**Basicly, I got stuck on chapter 4 (I caught a bad case of writer's block) so I sent the chapter to Maltesegirl50 to finish. I really should have changed the author name to hers for the chapter, but I forgot. I then volunteered to write chapter 5 as a thank you. And now, I'm also writing chapter 6, since I have better knowledge of dog training than Maltesegirl50 (I'm going training tonight, actually =P)**

**Enjoy!**

"Jet, sit", Arthur commanded.

The puppy in front of him, yet again, completely ignored him, remaining in a standing position, head cocked to one side in confusion.

"Jet, sit!" he repeated louder.

Still, Jet remained standing.

Arthur sighed. He had been attempting to train Jet for nearly an hour now, and he still refused to listen. It had been enough of a struggle just to get the collar and lead on him. He still wasn't happy with it, and still kept biting at the lead, and scratching at the collar. And now he'd started to train, Jet didn't seem to understand anything he said.

"Come on, Jet" Arthur's patience was being severely tested. "Sit!"

Finally, the puppy moved. Instead of sitting, however, he did the exact opposite, jumping up onto his hind legs, yapping happily.

"Oh, come on!" Arthur snapped in annoyance. "How thick can one puppy be?"

"As thick as it takes for you to realize I'm not bloody listening to you!" Merlin thought to himself.

He was finding it quite fun to watch Arthur's annoyance and frustration. He had to admire his determination thought. Merlin had spent the whole hour being as deliberately disobedient as he could. He was hoping Arthur would have given up by now, but it seemed Arthur was serious when he said he wasn't going to give up until Jet was properly trained.

After another few minutes, Arthur decided to give up on the sit command. Instead, he moved onto the "stay" command.

"Great!" Merlin thought happily.

Once Arthur had eventually managed to get Jet sitting in front of him, he told the puppy firmly "Stay", and began to slowly walk as far away as the lead would allow. However, he'd barely made it a few steps before Jet began to follow him.

"No!" Arthur said firmly. "Stay, Jet!"

Again, he began to back off, and again, Jet followed.

They'd nearly travelled across the length of the courtyard before Jet finally did as he was told.

Arthur stared at Jet, amazed. He had actually listened!

"Well done!" Arthur praised, giving him a couple of treats.

Jet barked happily, wagging his tail.

"OK, now let's try it without the lead"

He unclipped the lead and put it in his pocket. After telling Jet to stay, he began to walks off.

"Right" Merlin thought to himself. "Now for some fun"

Without any warning, he bolted.

He ran around the courtyard as fast as he could, dodging past various people who happened to be in his way. He could hear Arthur shouting after him, but he was in no hurry to let the prince ruin his fun. He lept up and over a hay cart, scattering hay everywhere as he did so. He heart Arthur quickly apologise to the man before resuming the chase.

"Jet!" Arthur yelled. "Get back here now!"

"Yeah right" Merlin laughed to himself. "Like I'm just gonna stop when you tell me to!"

He was just about to take a leap at another cart, when suddenly, a figure blocked his way. He skidded to a halt and looked up at the figure. It was a woman. A woman in an expensive silk dress. Morgana.

Before he could escape, she bent down and picked up the wriggling puppy.

"Hello again" Morgan said in a friendly tone, stroking Jet's fur.

Merlin yapped angrily. "Ah, no, not you! Put me down now!"

"Are you honestly that bad at training, Arthur?" Morgana laughed as Arthur finally caught up with them.

"Shut up, Morgana" Arthur said whilst trying to catch his breath. "He was actually beginning to learn something until I took the lead off and he bolted"

Morgana sighed and rolled her eyes.

"Well if you took his lead off, of course he's going to bolt! He's only a puppy, Arthur, he doesn't know any better"

"Oh, if only you knew..." Merlin growled, trying to shake off the hand that was stroking his fur.

"And I suppose you could do better?" Arthur challenged the lady.

Smiling innocently, Morgana replied, "Yes, of course. Anyone who knows to keep the lead on can do better than you"

"Alright, but I warn you. He's the thickest puppy I've ever tried to train"

Taking the lead from him, Morgana smiled.

"Well see about that"

Clipping the lead back on, she set Jet back down on the floor.

"Now, Jet, sit" she said calmly.

Merlin considered. He still loathed Morgana for the previous day, but just to wind Arthur up...

Arthur was astonished. Jet had obeyed _Morgana_ and not him?

"You see, Arthur?" Morgana said smugly. "Training dogs is easy when you know what to do"

Merlin had to admit, the look on Arthur's face was priceless.

Morgana then handed over the lead to Arthur.

"Jet, sit" Arthur commanded.

Jet rolled over onto his back, tail wagging happily

"No, you stupid-!" Arthur shouted angrily.

"Arthur!" Morgana protested. "Don't shout at him!"

"But he's not doing it right!"

"And if all you do it shout, he never will do it right"

"Fine! If you're such an expert, try and get him to walk on the lead"

Whenever Arthur tried walking him on the lead, Jet pulled back and dug his feet into the ground, refusing to budge. But when Morgana did it, he trotted alongside her steadily, never overtaking or falling back. It just wasn't fair.

"Here, now you try" Morgana handed the lead over to Arthur.

Taking the lead, Arthur commanded, "Jet, heel" and began to walk.

He was taken aback in amazement when the puppy walked along with him, keeping a steady pace and not tugging on the lead once.

"Wow, he's finally got it through that skull of his that I'm in charge!" Arthur said happily.

Merlin suddenly had a change of heart.

"Right, if that's your attitude..." he growled in his head.

He waited a few more minutes, picking just the right moment for his payback. The moment came when he spotted an expertly-placed cat sitting across the courtyard. Letting out a gleeful yap, he charged after the cat, catching Arthur by surprise. Unprepared for the sudden pull of the lead, Arthur lurched forward, and landed face-down in a pile of horse droppings. Merlin abandoned the cat chase just in time to watch the fall, and if he were human, he would have collapsed with laughter. Since he was a dog, however, he just yapped uncontrollably, jumping around happily.

Morgana was in stitches. The murderous look on Arthur's face told her to stop laughing, but she just couldn't. It was too much.

Arthur was beyond furious. He stared at Jet, wishing he could murder that dog. Slowly, he got to his feet and began to brush down his clothes, but regretted it when he saw what his hands were now smeared with. He tried to ignore the various onlookers who had stopped to watch. Many were trying to hold back laughter. They had just watched their prince be pulled into a pile of horse droppings by a puppy. How often did they get the chance to see that?

Arthur breathed deeply, trying to control his anger. He pointed to the floor in front of him.

"Jet, come here" he said, his voice shaking with anger.

Merlin decided he'd tormented Arthur enough for today, and willingly came to him.

Arthur snatched up the lead and walked over to the castle steps, where Morgana was still desperately trying to control herself.

"Well, you've made progress, I'll give you that" she said, choking back a giggle.

"Shut up, Morgana" Arthur replied moodily, and stormed off into the castle, Jet trotting along beside him.

Arthur hardly said a word for the rest of the day. Merlin could understand why he was annoyed, but even when he use the cute puppy eyes, Arthur still didn't talk to him.

"Go away, Jet!" Arthur snapped during dinner when Jet pawed at him leg, whining.

He felt a bit guilty when the puppy crawled off with his tail between his legs, but he still wasn't happy. Jet deserved to be ignored for what he did earlier.

When he went to be, and as usual, Jet jumped up and settled himself on the pillow next to him, he finally spoke to the puppy.

"It's a bloody good thing you weren't born a hunting dog. You'd have been drowned by now" he said, stroking Jet's head. "You really are the clumsiest, dumbest, most disobedient dog I've ever met. And yet I've come to like you a lot"

Merlin felt a surge of happiness at the prince's words.

"Since Merlin isn't here, it's like you're replacing his uselessness"

He paused, thoughtfully running his fingers through Jet's fur.

"If he's not back tomorrow, I'm gonna start worrying. Surely it doesn't take this long to gather herbs, even if it is on the border of the kingdom. Maybe something's happened to him..."

He yawned loudly before turned over and falling asleep.

Merlin groaned. He was getting desperate now. If he didn't figure out how to reverse the spell, who knew what Arthur might do...


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

**WRITTEN BY**** - Maltesegirl50**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY**** - Maltese-Sapphire**

**NOTE FROM MALTESE-SAPPHIRE:**** Hey guys! We're sorry for the lack of updates recently, but unfortunately, Maltesegirl50 has been struck down with a bad case of Writer's Block and has been too sick to write until now. **

**To help her get back on her feet, I wrote the beginning of this chapter for her, to get her started off. **

**Please review guys! You know how much it means to us, and each review will be a nice little get-well-soon present for Maltesegirl50! X**

**NOTE FROM MALTESEGIRL50:**** Hey guys. I'm really really really really really extremely sorry that we have kept you waiting. As my dearest Maltese-Sapphire told you, I have been having a major case of Writer's Block. **

**I'd like to really thank Maltese-Sapphire cause she's been a champ and she helped me write this chapter. I'm trying to get back to writing but it's been a bit difficult.**

**Don't lose faith we're still here and we will finish this story; this I promise you. Please review because it makes our day and as Maltese-Sapphire said it helps me get out of the nasty WB. Thank you guys. xxx**

Merlin didn't sleep that night. He was too busy worrying, and thinking. Thinking of some way to sort out this mess. One of his ideas was to not do anything and just wait until Arthur missed him enough to break the spell. But part of him wasn't sure about this plan. Although Arthur was growing concerned about his whereabouts, Merlin doubted the prince cared about him enough to really miss him. How many times had he said he would be better off without him?

The only other realistic option he could think of was consulting his magic book for answers. He quickly decided this was the best option, and was then faced with the problem of getting to his magic book. Merlin decided his best chance was to go now, while everyone was asleep.

He carefully climbed off of the pillow and shook himself, trying not to wake Arthur. He crept along the bed and lept down onto the floor, landing light on his feet (for once). After looking back to check that Arthur hadn't woken up, he ran across the room to the door, which he was annoyed to find shut. He eyed the heavy iron handle above him. It didn't look too high; he should be able to jump high enough. Taking a running jump, he sprung upwards and grabbed the handle tightly between his front paws. He dangled in mid-air for a moment, before his weight finally lowered the handle and released the door. As the door swung backwards, he let go of the handle and ran out into the hallway.

Although Merlin knew the way from Arthur's chambers to Gaius's by heart, it was a little more difficult now. In black and white, everything looked different, and considering everywhere was darker by night, it only made it harder. However, he was still pretty confident that he could find his way, and set off.

Luckily, he managed to get to Gaius's chambers pretty easily (he got lost once and nearly strayed down the dreaded hallway leading to Morgana's chambers, but apart from that, it was straightforward). After using the same method of door opening as he had with Arthur's, Merlin crept inside Gaius's chambers, and made his way up to his own room without waking the sleeping physician.

Merlin looked around the messy room and tried to remember where he had left his magic book. Despite Gaius constantly lecturing him about keeping it hidden, Merlin hardly ever remembered to put it away when he was done with it.

He crawled underneath his bed and rummaged through the discarded clothes. He spotted something underneath a shirt and dragged it out with his paw. To his disappointment, it was only two neckerchiefs tangled together. Merlin let out a little whine as he crawled out from under the bed with the neckerchiefs in his mouth. With some difficulty, he managed to wrap one of them around his neck. He just didn't feel right without his neckerchiefs.

He jumped up onto his bed and dragged the pillow aside. No book. He collapsed onto the bed in frustration. Where had he put his book? Suddenly, he spotted the cupboard. Maybe… Merlin nudged the cupboard door open with his nose and glanced inside.

Empty.

Merlin let out a frustrated groan. He was losing patience now.

Calming himself down, Merlin decided to think logically.

"I was last reading it 5 days ago..." he clawed through his memory, trying to remember. Suddenly, it hit him. The table in the other room!

He skidded out of his bedroom and ran back down into the main chambers. He clambered up onto the table (he'd never actually noticed how tall it was until now) and began to scan the vast amount of objects scattered around him. Papers, vials, ingredients, SPELL BOOK!

"THERE IT IS!" Merlin exclaimed, letting out a gleeful bark. He immediately realized his mistake and looked over at Gaius, who thankfully was still sleeping.

Merlin sighed in relief and carefully made his way towards the spell book; his only salvation… apart from Arthur but, could he really count on Arthur?

Amazingly, he managed to reach his book without destroying anything or making too much noise. He tried to paw the book open, which proved very unsuccessful. Damn these paws! They were useless for everything except scratching! Frustrated, Merlin growled angrily at the book.

"WHO'S THERE?"

The sudden noise startled Merlin, causing him to fall off the table and fall straight to the floor.

Merlin looked up and found Gaius staring intently at him. He began to bark franticly, jumping around in front of him.

"Gaius, it's me, Merlin!" he barked, hoping the physician would understand.

Gaius relaxed when he saw that the intruder was just a harmless puppy.

"So you're the little puppy that's been causing havoc around here" Gaius said with a smile. He began to stroke the puppy, when he realised it was wearing one of Merlin's neckerchiefs.

"You little trouble-maker" he scolded lightly. "You might like it, but I highly doubt Merlin will be happy when he realises its gone"

He began to take the fabric away from the puppy.

Merlin grabbed one end of the neckerchief in his teeth, trying to tug it back.

"I _am _Merlin!" he growled possessively. "Give that back, it's mine!"

He gave an almighty tug on the fabric, the force of which caught Gaius off guard. Unprepared for the puppy's surprising strength, he lost his balance and fell to the floor.

"You little-!" Gaius yelled in annoyance at the puppy as he got back onto his feet. Merlin dodged out of the way just in time as an empty vial was sent hurtling towards him. He whined pleadingly at Gaius, still trying to make him understand.

"Out! Go on, go and find someone else to bother" Gaius began ushering the puppy towards the door.

But Merlin wasn't leaving with nothing.

He quickly sprinted around Gaius and grabbed the discarded neckerchief. Quick as lightning, he sprinted out of Gaius's chambers before he could be stopped. The last thing he heard was Gaius muttering about getting Uther to get rid of "that little pest".

Merlin didn't stop running until he was safely back in Arthur's room. It took him a while to run back. He'd ran the wrong way at first; heading towards Arthur's usual room. The one he'd destroyed…

Oops.

Merlin entered the room quietly and saw that the prince was sleeping soundly.

"Really soundly" he thought to himself. Arthur didn't even notice that he had left.

Merlin managed to climb up onto the bed (harder whilst he was carrying the neckerchief) and hid it underneath his pillow. Without the help of his spell book (and Gaius, it seemed), the neckerchief was one of his few chances left of breaking the spell.

"I'll wait until tomorrow, then give it to him" Merlin decided. "Hopefully when he sees this, it'll make him miss me. I'm not sure I want to be a dog forever..."

**Hope you enjoyed! Again, sorry for the lack of updates. As a "sorry" present, I can promise chapter 8 will be up by tomorrow! =) **

**REVIEW, S'IL VOUS PLAIT!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

**WRITTEN BY**** - Maltese-Sapphire**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY**** - Maltesegirl50**

**Oooh, you lucky pups are getting 2 chapters today! Well, it's the least you deserve after the cold, empty chapter-less week you've all had. We hope to have Chapter 9 up pretty soon. I wish we could write it tonight, cos that's how much we luuurve you guys. In fact, I love you guys so much, I'll be awake until 2am so I can be the first to read the lovely reviews from our chums accross the pond. Hi America *waves* =P**

**Enjoy!**

The first thing that Merlin noticed when he woke the next morning was that it was quiet. Too quiet. He slowly opened his tired eyes and yawned loudly. He looked around to figure out what was wrong, and then realised. Arthur wasn't there. The chambers were empty. He could see from the bright light shining through the window that it was later than the time he usually woke up, but he guessed that was due to the fact that he'd been running around the castle late the night before. Which reminded him - he still had the neckerchief to give to Arthur. Forcing his tired body to wake up, he grabbed the neckerchief in his mouth, jumped off of the bed and ran out the door to find Arthur.

Finding the prince on this particular day would be a lot harder than normal. That day happened to be the day of a jousting competition, which of course, Arthur would take part in (and be expected by many to win). Although Merlin was pretty sure he could get to the arena pretty easily, he wasn't looking forward to finding his way through the crowd. Being 30cm tall certainly didn't count in his favour today.

Unfortunately, he didn't even make it out of the castle. Was it just his bad luck that every time he went anywhere alone, he ran into someone he didn't want to see? It must have been. This time, it was Uther he ran into (who was accompanied by a guard). He didn't even bother struggling as the King lifted him up off the floor.

Uther held Jet up in front of his face.

"Still wandering around alone, are we?" the king said with a smile. Then he noticed the neckerchief in the puppy's mouth. "What's this you've got?"

He tried to take it away from Jet, but the puppy growled and tugged it back.

Uther laughed.

"OK, OK, you keep it then"

The guard couldn't help but wonder if his king was going slightly crazy. The man who would carelessly sentence a child to death if it was accused of sorcery, was fawning over a _puppy_.

Merlin hoped the king would put him down now, but he didn't.

He began whining and struggling, hoping Uther would realise and put him down, but he didn't.

"No, Jet, you can come and watch the tournament with me" Uther said. "Can't have you causing anymore mischief around here"

"Brilliant. Just brilliant", Merlin thought. He had an important task to carry out, and he was being held captive by Uther.

In all fairness, it wasn't completely terrible. At least it meant he didn't have to find his way through the swarms of people. But it did mean that it would be harder to get to Arthur. He hoped the king would go and see Arthur before the jousts began, but to his dismay, Uther went straight to his seat in the stands; the guard on one side of him, Morgana and Gwen on the other (Merlin felt a wave of horror run through him when he saw the king's ward and her maid). Thankfully, the dreaded females were more interested in gazing at the strong, handsome knights than him.

Uther sat with Jet on his lap, trying to still the restless puppy. He seemed determined to get away. And he completely refused to let go of that scrap of fabric he had. Whenever Uther tried to take it away, Jet would snap and growl at him. Uther wondered where he'd seen it before.

Looks like the one that servant of Arthur's wears, the king thought to himself.

Pushing the matter aside, he turned his attention back to the tournament.

Merlin wasn't really interested in the jousting. He occasionally glanced up to see if Arthur was there, and he only gave his full attention when the prince was jousting. He noticed that Arthur's horse was playing up slightly. Not enough to cause Arthur any problems, but he wasn't the best steed. Arthur's usual horse, Torrento, had been lame for the last week or so, which meant Arthur was using different horses who weren't used to him. This one in particular, seemed somewhat inexperienced and unreliable.

Merlin gradually began to lose interest as Arthur predictably won every one of his jousts (despite his horsey disadvantage). Instead, he kept his attention on looking out for a chance to escape. His golden opportunity came when Uther stood up to announce the two finalists (Arthur and a knight Leofrick of Cambridge).

As Uther stood up, he placed Jet back down on the seat. While he was speaking to the crowds, the puppy behind him lept off of the seat and darted away as fast as his little legs could carry him, the neckerchief in his mouth blowing in the breeze. The guard who was sitting beside Uther made no attempt to stop the pup.

Merlin ran through the stand, trying to find the way down to the field. By the time he eventually made it down, the final joust between Arthur and Leofrick had already begun. Merlin crawled underneath the barrier and onto the side-lines of the field.

He began to bark franticly to get Arthur's attention.

Arthur's horse was spooked by the barking. It skidded to a halt and began to buck franticly, while Arthur desperately tried to regain control.

"Uh oh" thought Merlin.

Arthur was thrown from the horse down into the sand, his broken lance landing a few feet away.

The whole arena watched in amazement. Had Prince Arthur just _lost_ a jousting tournament?

Arthur himself was furious. His horse had bolted, and was currently being restrained by a team of stable hands. He got to his feet, trying to hold onto the shred of dignity he had left, and began to walk quickly off the field. Leofrick was stunned. He had just won the tournament! Not that anyone cared. To everyone watching, this wasn't the fight Leofrick had won; it was the fight Arthur had lost.

As he walked towards the tent where the other knights had been watching, he caught sight of Jet. The bloody dog that had just cost him a victory. He was annoyed enough as it was, without that stupid puppy pestering him.

Merlin yapped and whined at Arthur, trying to show him the neckerchief.

"Jet, will you shut up!" Arthur snapped angrily. "Haven't you caused enough trouble?"

Jet pawed at his leg, trying to show him the piece of fabric he's found.

Arthur shook the puppy off of his leg.

"Just get lost!" he shouted.

He was sure that if he hadn't just suffered a humiliating defeat, he wouldn't have shouted at Jet. But he was so angry at him for spooking the damned horse that he didn't care what he said. He just wanted the puppy to get lost.

So he did just that.

Throwing the neckerchief down at Arthur's feet, Jet turned and ran away, his tail drooping between his legs. For the moment, Arthur was glad to see the back of him. Then he noticed what Jet had dropped in front of him. Bending down, he picked up the scrap of red fabric and examined it.

"This is Merlin's" he thought out loud. "How did Jet get it?"

Staring at the neckerchief in his hands, he couldn't help but notice there was something odd about that puppy...

Merlin was too filled with anger, hurt and sadness to think about going back to Arthur. He ran as fast as he could; burning off energy seemed to help relieve his anger. Without really thinking, he ran out of the caste gates, through the streets and straight out of Camelot. He didn't realise where he was going until he saw the woodlands in the distance.

He ran into the woods, dodging through trees, bushes, not stopping until he reached his destination - the spot where Nimueh had first turned him into a puppy.

When he finally arrived, he found his clothes still lying on the forest floor where he had been transformed. He was amazed they were still here after so many days. He lay down on top of them and just stared straight ahead. He felt so hopeless. All he wanted was to be human again, but what were the chances of that happening? Arthur was angry with him, Gaius didn't recognise him, and he couldn't even _open_ his damn spell book! Honestly, what hope did he have of breaking the spell? Why didn't he just give up now?

Suddenly, a noise broke him out of his daze. He perked up his ears and listened. He could hear... footsteps. Someone was coming!

"Or some_thing_" a voice in the back of his head told him. He dreaded to think how many creatures in this forest would be lying in wait for easy prey.

He whipped his head around, scanning the forest for the source of the noise. He spotted the outline of a person coming closer. He lay still, waiting for them to come close enough for him to identify...

**Hope y'all like it! **

**We can has reviews? More reviews more…. COOKIES! Yes. We now have cookies for every reviewer! :D **


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

**WRITTEN BY**** - Maltesegirl50**

**COWRITTEN AND EDITED BY**** - Maltese-Sapphire**

**Hey guys. Its Maltesegirl50 here. I'm rly sorry guys about the wait but the Writer's Block is still lingering in the air. it. Really sorry guys and thx for staying with us :) **

**On another note. I'd like to take a moment to remember all the victims of the 9/11. My thoughts go to everyone that lost someone in the twin towers.**

**On another note. If you guys want, I, maltesegirl50, have a twitter. So if you want follow me, it's dwrstnightmare. If you do follow me tweet me telling me that ur a reader so like that I can start tweeting about the story updates and if we're going to update a bit late and whatnot. Thx guys xxxxxx**

Merlin jumped to his feet and took a protective stance. As the figure came closer and closer Merlin realized that it was in fact...

Gaius.

He assumed the physician was out gathering herbs, judging by the half-filled bad he was carrying. He also didn't seem to have noticed the puppy staring at him.

Merlin rushed forward and started barking loudly, trying to get Gaius's attention. And he did just that.

Gaius followed the sound of the barking, curious as to what a dog was doing in the middle of a forest, and found it appeared to be the little black puppy that had been causig mayhem in his chambers last night.

"Isn't this Arthur's stray dog?" Gaius thought out loud. "Oh that boy could never take care of anything"

He bent down to try and pick up the puppy, but he dodged out of the way and ran towards what appeared to be a pile of old rags. Gaius followed him, and as he got closer, he noticed that the pile of rags was really a pile of clothes. Clothes that looked oddly familiar...

"Wait a minute. These are MERLIN'S CLOTHES!" he said in astonishment, then turned to face the puppy.

"You little theif! You must have been sneaking in and out of my chambers all the time to have been able to steal all this!" he shouted angrily, and began to pick up the clothes.

"Gaius it's me! I'm Merlin!" Merlin barked at him, and tugged the neckerchief out of his hands.

He swung the neckerchief around his neck awkwardly, hoping Gaius would understand what he was saying.

But all the physician saw was a thieving puppy who thought he could play with whatever he wanted, no matter who it belonged to.

Grabbing the puppy by the scruff of his neck, Gaius began to make his way back to Camelot, eager to tell Arthur about his dog's stealing habit.

Once they were back inside the castle, Merlin managed to claw his way out of Gaius's grip, fell to the floor and began dashing the rest of the way to his chambers.

Gaius ran awkwardly after the bloody puppy.

"Once this is over I will demand that Uther removes this nuisance from the castle. All its doing is cause trouble" Gaius said out loud as he followed the puppy into his chambers.

Merlin jumped onto the table and made a beeline for his magic book. He sat next to it and waited for Gaius.

Gaius breathed heavily as he entered the room. He saw the puppy sitting on his table, next to a book. Merlin's magic book. He made a mental note to lecture Merlin again about leaving that book out for anyone to see.

"I'm going to kill that boy… unless this puppy ate him first"

Merlin whined loudly, pawing the magic book in desperation.

"Please please please recognise me..." Merlin pleaded in his head.

He nudged the neckerchief around his neck with his nose, indicated the magic book and yapped, over and over again, hoping the physician would recognise the pattern.

Gaius thought he must be going mad. For a moment there it was almost like the puppy was trying to tell him he was...

"Merlin?" Gaius asked uncertainly. The puppy went wild, jumping around and barking loudly, tail wagging furiously.

"Oh my God, it is you!" Gaius shouted happily, then it sunk in.

"How on earth did you end up as a puppy?" he asked in astonishment.

"Well, I was walking in the forest the other day, you know, my day off, and I ran into Nimueh! And she was like 'It's not your destiny to die at my hands so I'll just make sure you can't stop me anymore' and she casted a spell on me which made me like this!

"So I started heading home, when I got caught in one of Arthur's rabbit snares! Then he found me and took me home, only now he's decided I'm his pet and he's calling me Jet. And Nimueh said the only way to break the spell was for Arthur to really miss me, so I've been trying to make him do that, which is why I stole the neckerchief last night, only it's not working!

"Gaius, I don't want to be a puppy forever. It's fun, but sometimes it's horrible! Like the way I can't use my paws like hands, and I'm too small and I can't see properly, and the training with Arthur and Morgana was annoying! Please Gaius, I need you to help me find a way to turn me back, since Arthur obviously isn't going to miss me anytime soon. So will you help me?"

Gaius just watched in a state of shock whilst the puppy yapped, barked and whined uncontrollably. He was sure Merlin was telling him everything, not that he could understand.

Eventually, Merlin finished. He sat on the table, staring at Gaius as if expecting him to answer.

"Merlin, I haven't got the slightest idea what you just said" Gaius told him.

Merlin groaned in frustration. This wasn't going to get anywhere if they couldn't understand eachother.

After some thought, Gaius came up with an idea.

"From now on, I'll only ask you 'yes' or 'no' questions, OK? You bark once for 'yes' and twice for 'no'. Right?"

Merlin barked once.

"Good" Gaius smiled. "Now, let's see if we can find something to change you back..."

**Reviewers gets to cuddle PuppyMerlin :D**

**LESS THAN AN HOUR UNTIL SERIES 3 STARTS! =D =D =D =D =D =D =D =D =D =D =D =D =D**

(there is a smiley there for every episode of the series =P)


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

**WRITTEN BY**** - Maltese-Sapphire**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY**** - Maltesegirl50**

**Thank you so so so so so so so much to everyone who answered out call for help! **

**You've all been amazing, giving us so much help. And thanks for your support aswell, it means a lot to us both =P**

**I'm sorry for not much development in this chapter, but I wanted to give you something whilst we work our asses off on the plot. You deserve it =P**

**To everyone who submitted a story idea:**

**Stella, George2Bob1, Keyrani, snake and crane, BlueDragon123, .zip, Aidria, Legolas Thranduilion, Larkaidikalikani, narnia365, Bridget Friste and lupelovell345**

**Grazzi ****ħafna!**

**(That's "thank you very much" in Maltese =P)**

Merlin was exhausted. He must have spent over an hour trying every possible spell Gaius found in the magic book, none of which worked. It might have been because he could only bark the spells, the spells weren't the right ones, or his magic just wasn't strong enough whilst he was like this. He assumed it was the last one, because he found he could do simple spells if he concentrated hard. But what was the point in those? Being able to light a candle wasn't going to make him human again.

Gaius was quickly losing hope of finding a spell in the book that would be uselful. He had lost count of how many spells they had tried and failed. He had even tried making a couple of potions that might work (none did, of course). He flipped through the worn pages of the thick book, scanning the words for anything relivent. He paused every so often to read a passage, then carry on searching when the spell proved useless.

"I'm sorry, Merlin, it doesn't look like we're going to find anything in here" he said sadly.

Merlin whined miserabley.

Gaius was about to close the book when something caught his eye. After reading the description, he decided it was worth a try. It wasn't a spell to change Merlin back, but it was one that might prove useful. If performed right, it should allow Gaius to understand what Merlin was saying.

It was worth a try.

"Merlin, try and cast this spell" Gaius said, showing the page to the puppy sitting on the table. Merlin read the spell, and barked it out loud, trying to summon all the magic he could.

It didn't work.

"Try again" Gaius urged.

Merlin took a deep breath and barked the spell again. He felt a slight tingle, but nothing else.

He shook his head, telling Gaius he couldn't do it again.

"Just once more, Merlin, please"

After pausing for a moment, Merlin attempted the spell again. He tried so hard he felt dizzy. But still nothing seemed to happen.

But Gaius was determined to try and get the spell to work.

"Maybe just once-"

For God's sake, Gaius, I can't do it, okay?" Merlin snapped angrily.

To Gaius's amazement, he could understand the puppy's barks perfectly.

"It's worked!" he said happily.

Merlin cocked his head to one side, puzzled.

"But I'm still barking" he said.

"Well I can understand you perfectly"

It was strange really. Gaius could still hear barking, but somehow he just _knew_ what they meant. He didn't really care how it worked, but it had.

"OK, now I can understand you, tell me what happened"

For the next few minutes, Merlin talked non-stop about the events of the last few days; he started from when Nimueh had changed him, finishing at the point when Gaius had found him in the forest.

When he was done, Gaius was both stunned and amazed. Something like this could only happen to Merlin.

"And Nimueh said this was the only way to break the spell?" he asked.

"Yes" Merlin replied. "The only way to break the spell is for Arthur to truly miss me"

Gaius was suprised and confused. This wasn't something he would expect from Nimueh.

"This is strange" he said. "It's not like Nimueh to play around like this"

"Well, I don't care why she did this, all I want is to turn back"

"And Arthur?"

Merlin sighed.

"I've been trying to make him miss me, but it's not working. Everytime I try, it either doesn't work or go wrong"

Gaius considered the events of the tournament.

"Merlin... Arthur's horse getting spooked and throwing him off; that didn't have anything to do with you did it?"

"Uh..." Merlin began uncomfortably. "Well... maybe?"

Gaius knew he shoudn't laugh, but it was so hard not to.

"So what do I do now?" Merlin asked. "Arthur's mad at me, and I still have no idea how to make him break the spell"

Gaius thought carefully. He wasn't too sure himself.

"Well, the best thing you can do right now is go and find Arthur and make him forgive you. We're not going to get anywhere if he decides he doesn't want you anymore"

"It wouldn't suprise me" Merlin replied. "He's the kind of person who'd probably just get rid of their pets when they get bored"

"Yes, well, you'd better make sure that doesn't happen. Until we figure out how to make you human again, the best thing we can do is keep Arthur on our side"

**Yes, it's not very long, but it's all I can conjour up right now. We're working hard on the plot, trying to work out the rest of the story for you. Rest assured, Merlin fans, we will not give up! I swear on my Merlin boxset!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

**WRITTEN BY**** - Maltesegirl50**

**WRITTEN AND EDITED BY**** - Maltese-Sapphire**

**So. Here it is. Chapter 11. I think y'all will be glad to know that we have indeed planned the whole story now :D but unfortunately I, maltesegirl50, am still having my writers' block. So sorry if this chapter sucks. I'd like to thank two friends of mine that listened to me yell how sucky it is and that I'm going to die because it sucks. xD but I hope y'all like it :) **

**Love,**

**Maltesegirl50**

Taking Gaius's advice, Merlin set off to find Arthur and make him forgive him.

Merlin ran to Arthur's room and whined at the locked door, wanting to be let in. He sat there barking for a few minutes, which seemed like eternity to the poor puppy. He decided to go and try to see if Arthur was somewhere else because he may be a dollop head, but he wouldn't have left him out there.

He walked slowly trying to think where Arthur could be. 'Well… he did just lose a tournament. So he'll either be in the court room with Uther (probably demanding a re-match) or else somewhere alone licking his wounded pride. So Merlin decided to check the stables first. He knew that if Arthur was with Uther he wouldn't be a happy camper. Well. He wouldn't be a happy camper anyway. He had just lost a tournament. The same tournament he won for 3 years in a row and he was also the crowned Prince. He must be humiliated.

'He's going to hate me forever' Merlin thought sadly as he ran towards the castle door.

"I don't want to be mean but I'm with the horse. Arthur deserved that. Did you see his face, Guinevere?" Merlin heard Morgana's voice.

Wait…. Morgana's voice! He came to a halt and hid behind one of the guards at the doors as he observed the lady and her maid run up the stairs. After the women were out of sight he continued his search for the prince.

He approached the stables slowly, cautious of the horses. From his past experiences, horses and dogs didn't seem to get on well. He creeped in silently and saw Arthur sitting next to Torrento, patting his head slowly.

Merlin went next to Arthur and whine quietly, trying to catch his attention.

"What do you want Jet? Haven't you done enough for today?" Arthur snapped at the puppy, not even looking at him.

Jet cried at Arthur's feet and tried to snuggle with him, but Arthur just put his feet up and said "Jet. Get lost. I'm mad at you. So just. Get lost. For now. Leave me alone!"

Jet hanged his head and walked out of the stables tail drooping sadly. As he was leaving he heard Arthur say,

"Wish Merlin was here," Merlin looked up eagerly, "at least I'd have someone to pick on."

On any normal day, Merlin would have gone back in and snap at him for that, but he was too busy right now. Since Arthur was still mad, and his own magic idn't seem to help, he decided to consult the dragon...

Being a dog actually helped Merlin sneak by unnoticed into the caves without attracting the attention of the gaurds (who really were too thick for their own good sometimes). But it also meant that he couldn't carry a torch. Instead, he had to rely on his instincts and he ran into a wall not once or twice. After bumping into a wall for at least the 4th time, he managed to get to where the dragon was chained and he began to bark loudly,

"DRAGON! I NEED YOUR HELP!" I just hope that he can understand me, Merlin thought.

"Oh I can understand you perfectly young warlock. But I can't see you. Oh… there you are!" the suprised dragon landed upon his usual rock and stared curiously at the puppy.

Merlin stared at the Dragon who, after a few moments, bursts into laughter. "You're a dog!"

Merlin growled at the overgrown reptile in front of him.

"I REALIZED THAT!" he snapped in annoyance."WHY DO YOU THINK I'M HERE?"

"Now now, young warlock. Calm down. What happened to you? Well. I can see what happened but... How?"

The dragon was trying hard to fight back the fits of laughter desperate to escape him.

"Nimueh." Merlin growled with distaste. "She found me in the forest and turned me into a puppy!"

"Why would she do that? Tell me the whole story."

"Well. She said that I foiled one too many of her plans. But it's not my destiny to die at her hands. So she turned me into a puppy instead. She said that the only way for me to get back as human is for Arthur to miss me."

The dragon considered for a moment beore answering.

"Well well, this is a curious case. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I cannot help you Merlin…"

Merlin stared at the dragon in shock. Was this huge, magical, all-powerful dragon actually saying he didn't know what to do?

"WELL, WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO THEN?" he barked loudly.

"Well. The only thing you can do. Make Arthur miss you."

Merlin snorted sarcasticly.

"Oh, thanks. Brilliant." Merlin growled and turned to leave.

"Merlin!" the dragon called after him. Merlin paused and turn to face him.

"I may not be able to break the spell..." the dragon said slowly. "But a can tell you this; shape-shifting spells are extremely tricky things. If left for too long, they can become perminent"

Merlin's heart skipped a beat.

"But.. that's not gonna happen to me, right?" he asked nervously.

The dragon looked at him sternly.

"You have until the next eclipse to break the spell. Otherwise..."

He didn't need to finish the sentence; Merlin knew how it ended.

"…. GAIUS!" Merlin yelled in panic and began to dash franticly out of the cave, his paws skidding on the slipperly stone.

The dragon shook his head sadly.

**Reviews are like cookies. You can never have enough of them... *hint hint* ;) ;) :D**

**xxxxxxxx**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

**WRITTEN BY**** - Maltese-Sapphire**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY**** - Maltesegirl50**

**I know Maltesegirl50 already told you the happy happy news, but I wanna say it for myself =P **

**WE HAVE WRITTEN THE PLOT FOR THE WHOLE STORY! ALL IS WELL IN THE LAND OF STORY-PLOTTING! =D**

**Thanks again for all your help guys, it was just the kick up the backside we needed =P**

**Hope you all liked the second plot we conjoured up, by the way. We spent all of Friday afternoon working it out =D**

**P.S: Sorry this chapter is kinda short. Not sure about 13 (that's Maltesegirl50's) but I can promise 14 will be longer (I'm looking forward to writing it =D)**

**Anywhom, on with Chapter 12!**

Merlin sprinted through the castle as fast as he could, dodging past servants, statues and doors unfortunately not always moving out of the way in time. Eventually, he skidded to a halt outside Gaius's chambers and yapped loudly for Gaius to open the door.

"Well? How did it go?" Gaius asked anxiously once the puppy was sitting on his workbench.

"He still hates me" Merlin whined. "He told me to get lost"

Gaius looked disappointed.

"Well, that's not an ideal outcome. Still, there's still time to-"

"Gaius, that's just it! We _don't_ have time!" Merlin said franticly.

The physician raised one eyebrow at him.

"What on Earth are you talking about, Merlin?"

"I went to see the dragon" Merlin explained. "He said the spell has a time limit. If I don't change back before the next eclipse, I'll be stuck like this forever!"

A look of worry crossed Gaius's face for a moment, before he hurried off to one of his many bookcases and began searching for a book. When he'd found the book on astronomy, he lay it on the table and began to flick through it for the right page.

"Aha" he said, stopping on one that appeared to be about eclipses. He quickly read through the page, and when he was done, he didn't appear happy with what he'd found. In fact, he looked downright horrified.

"Gaius? What is it?" Merlin aksed urgently.

"The eclipse" Gaius said. "It's in three days!"

"Three days?" Merlin barked. "I've only got _three days _to break the spell? I can't do that!"

"Well, it appears you'll have to. Or else you won't be able to break it at all!"

Merlin was stunned. There was no way he could make Arthur miss him enough to break the spell in three days. Three weeks, maybe, but not days! It was impossible! He didn't know how to do it.

"Gaius, how am I supposed to make Arthur break the spell in three days?"

The physician thought for a moment.

"I'm not sure" he admitted. "But we'll have to think of something"

For the next half hour or so, they both tried to come up with ideas to make Arthur miss Merlin enough to break the spell, but neither came up with anything good enough.

"I have it!" Gaius suddenly shouted after several minutes of silent thought.

"What?" Merlin asked curiously.

"You're clothes!"

Merlin was confused.

"What about my clothes?"

"The ones I found in the forest" Gaius explained. "If I can put them back in the forest, somewhere Arthur will find them, it might make take more interest in your whereabouts. And if we're lucky, it might be enough to maybe break the spell!"

Merlin barked happily, tail wagging madly.  
"It's perfect!" he shouted gleefully.

Then he paused, realising something.

"But how do we get Arthur to find them?" he asked.

Gaius had thought of everything.

"Well, that's where you come in" he continued. "You must find out when Arthur is next going hunting with the knights. Then, I will follow from a distance and place the clothes right in his path"

Merlin couldn't believe how full proof it was!

"It's perfect!" he said happily.

"Merlin, shouldn't you be getting back to Arthur?" Gaius said a while later. It was getting late now.

Merlin had been lazily reading through his magic book for quite a while now, in no hurry to return to the prince.

"Yeah, I guess so" he sighed miserably. "I hope he's not still sulking, he's not nice to be around when he's like that"

Gaius chuckled.

"Can you blame him? He's not someone who's used to losing, after all"

Merlin rolled his eyes.

"Sore looser..." he muttered on his way out.

He took his time walking the journey up to Arthur's room. The castle was almost empty now, with just the occasional servant giving him odd looks in the hallways. When he eventually made it to his destination, he was glad to see Arthur had left the door slightly ajar, probably for him. He crept inside and saw that Arthur was sitting at the table eating dinner.

"Right" Merlin thought determinedly. "Time to turn on the cuteness..."

Arthur felt something furry rubbing against his leg. He looked down and saw that Jet was staring up at him with those big eyes that had won the hearts of both his father and Morgana.

"What do you want now?" he asked, rolling his eyes.

Jet whined sadly, pawing his leg.

"Don't look at me like that, Jet. I'm still not happy with you"

He put down the bowl of dog food that had come with his own food.

"Here, eat and shut up"

Jet went quiet while he ate, but he started up again once the food was gone.

"Damn dog..." Arthur muttered in annoyance.

Continuing to whine, Jet jumped up and clambered into Arthur's lap. He began to lick Arthur's neck and face, making little whimpering noises.

"If this is your idea of an apology, you're doing a lousy job" Arthur said, but didn't shove him off.

"Get off, Jet, that tickles!" he laughed, trying to calm the puppy down.

"Not until you forgive me!" Merlin thought.

"OK, OK, I forgive you!" Arthur eventually said between fits of laughter.

Jet finally stopped licking him and yapped happily, wagging his tail.

Arthur gave him a scratch behind the ears.

"But spook my horse again, and it will be the last thing you ever do, ok?"

Jet yapped back in reply.

**Little fact here, guys; we used an eclipse as the time limit because back then, an eclipse was meant to be a sign that something bad was gonna happen. Maltesegirl50's idea =P **

**Please review!**

**xxxxxxxxxxxx**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

**WRITTEN BY**** - Maltesegirl50**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY**** - Maltese-Sapphire**

**Weeeeeeeeeeeeee're baaaaaaaack! =D**

**So, yh, anyways, here's Chapter 13. =P **

**Not very much else to say really. =D **

**Oh, and just so you know, Maltese-Sapphire already has Chapter 14 written and edited (she was really passionate about that chapter. She's calling it "Her Masterpiece" XD**

**Anyway, read, review and enjoy!**

**xxxxxxxxxx**

CRASH!

"Ow!"

Merlin was aruptly woken by the loud noise.

"Intruder!" was the first thought that crossed his mind. He jumped to his feet on the bed and began barking wildly.

"Jet, calm down!" Arthur shouted at the puppy.

Merlin turned towards the voice and saw Arthur on the floor rubbing his forehead.

He breathed a sigh of relief.

"No intruder" he thought happily. "Stupid dollophead just tripped over something"

Still, he was puzzled as to why the noise had spooked him. Why did he automaticly think it was an intruder? He couldn't think of anyone that did that.

He shook the thought from his mind and lept off the bed, taking a running jump at Arthur. He began to lick all over his face, his tail wagging madly.

"Jet! Jet, get off!" Arthur laughed as he tried to push the puppy off of him.

'What the heck am I doing?' Merlin asked himself as he clambered off of Arthur. "Like I'd ever want to lick THAT face! Weird..."

Suddenly a knock echoed through the room and a servant entered with breakfast.

Now that really _was_ an intruder!

Merlin ran forward, barking and growling threateningly.

"Get out, intruder!" he snapped angrily, baring his teeth at the poor servant, who shrieked and backed into a corner, nearly dropping the tray he carried.

"JET! SHUT UP!" Arthur yelled at the dog, who had never behaved in such a manner.

Surprisingly, even to himself, Merlin immediately stopped barking. He reluctantly walked away from the servant and sat next to Arthur's feet. He tensely watched the servant's every move until he gratefully scampered out of the chambers. Able to relax now he was gone, Merlin took a moment to consider his outburst.

"This isn't right" he thought. "He was just delivereing food. Why did I feel so nervous around him? There's no way _he_ would be a danger..."

Eventually, he decided to blame his temper on his stomach. He walked over to the table to get his breakfast.

Instead of waiting patiently for Arthur to put it down for him, Merlin found himself jumping up at the table, yapping impatiently for his food.

"Come on, you dollophead! I'm hungry!" he barked, clawing at Arthur's leg.

"Jet, sit!" Arthur commanded, and Merlin found himself automaticly obeying him.

"Why on Earth did I do that?" he gasped to himself, realising what he'd done.

The territorial barking; the impatience for food; the doing as he was told for once; he was starting to act like a... dog.

"OH GOD NO!" Merlin gasped, realisation hitting him like a swift kick in the guts.

The spell was getting stronger! The dragon was right! He really was turning into a real dog!

Merlin began to panic, whining and whimpering, unable to sit still.

Arthur stared at Jet curiously. The puppy had been acting downright weird all morning. He'd never shown such aggression to anyone like he had to the servant, he'd never jumped up at the table, demanding his food, and now he was fidgiting crazily and whimpering, like something was wrong.

He reached down and stroked Jet's back, trying to calm him down.

"Jet, calm down" he urged. "There's nothing to be scared of"

"Easy for you to say!" Merlin yapped at him in annoyance. "You're not the one turning into a bloody _dog_!"

After breakfast, Arthur had to go train the knights, same as every morning. And Merlin, of course, went with him.

Arthur had considered leaving Jet in his chambers. The puppy seemed to be pretty unpredictable today, but he was willing to give him a chance. He let the puppy walk freely, through the castle (he never really bothered with a lead anyway) but kept a close eye on him incase he suddenly went wild again.

However, Jet seemed to be behaving pretty normally, for now at least. He happily ran ahead in the hallways, pausing every so often for Arthur to catch up. When he began to put on his leather gloves, Jet yapped excitedly, begging him to throw them. Arthur threw one and watched as the puppy bounded after it, bringing it back and yapping for him to throw it again.

Merlin was very concerned about how doggish he was behaving. Fetch? Since when did he find it so... fun? But then again. The eclipse was now in TWO DAYS!

Eventually they left the castle and walked out onto the field where the knights were already waiting. Before Arthur could stop him, Jet sprinted up to Sir Leon and jumped onto the unsuspecting knight, happily licking his face. Sir Leon stumbled a bit as he tried to shake the clinging puppy off of him. Arthur jogged up to them and pulled the puppy away from Sir Leon. The knight frowned at the loose threads that now littered his tunic from where Jet had clung to him with his sharp puppy claws.

"I don't know what's gotten into him today" Arthur apologised, dropping the wriggling pup to the ground.

"Me neither" Merlin thought, absent-mindedly rolling around in the warm grass.

"Dogs can be very energetic and... unpredictable, My Lord." Sir Leon told the prince, staring down at the rolling puppy and trying to hide his obvious look of distaste.

"That they are" Arthur replied, shaking his head hopelessly at Jet. "Let's start the training, shall we?"

"Yes my Lord."

Arthur scooped up Jet and carried him over to the shade of a nearby tree.

"Stay" he told the puppy firmly as he set him down on the ground.

Watching to make sure he obeyed, Arthur unsheathed his sword and began the training session.

Merlin sat under the tree and watched as the knights of Camelot trained. He was watching with interest until something in the distance suddenly caught his eye.

_Cat! _

He licked his lips, fidgeting on the spot excitedly as he watched the unsuspecting cat lazily groom itself. Oh, he wanted so badly to go after the cat! It was just sitting there, waiting to be chased! The adreneline pumping through his veins was overpowering!

Then he remembered what Arthur had last said.

_"Stay"_

How could he chase after a cat when he was told to stay here? Anyway, he knew that he had dog traits now, but that was just a step too far. He wouldn't allow himself to take off after a poor, innocent cat, who was now on lying on it's back in the sun.

He whined longingly. God, how he wanted that cat!

He tried hard to concentrate on watching the knights, but the cat was too distracting. Oh it was just too much! He couldn't resist temptation a minute longer!

Letting out a gleeful yap, he ran full-speed ahead after that cat.

His eyes were focused so intently on the black and white feline that he may aswell have been wearing blinders.

So of course he didn't notice that he had dashed right through the training field and charged right at the knights (who were practicing sword combat). He charged through a sea of legs, and leaped out of the way as Arthur was forced to swerve his sword to avoid hitting the charging puppy.

It really wasn't his fault that Arthur had swerved his sword right into Sir Owen's leg.

The knight cried out in pain as he doubled over in pain, clutching his wounded leg.

Merlin growled angrily. Sir Owen has scared away his cat with his selfishly loud cry of pain. He looked back at the scene he had caused. Two other knights were supporting Sir Owen as he limped off to get his leg examined, and then he noticed Arthur, who was staring at him with his arms folded across his chest, a stern scowl on his face.

Merlin crouched low, letting out a low whine.

"Great. Well done, Merlin. Once again, your stupidity had landed you in hot water" he cursed himself.

"Jet" Arthur called, his voice dangerously low. "Come here now"

He watched as the puppy slowly crawled towards him, his head bent low, his tail tucked between his legs.

Eventually, Jet was sitting down in front of him.

"YOU BAD DOG!" Arthur yelled at Jet, who looked down at the floor in shame and started whining softly.

Satisfied that the puppy was now feeling miserable, Arthur then adressed the remaining knights.

"Training for today is over!" he said. "Meet in the courtyard in an hour for this afternoon's hunt!"

Merlin's head shot up in alert at the mention of a hunt.

"HUNT!" He realised. "The plan! Must go and tell Gaius!"

He was sprinting back towards the castle before Arthur even noticed he was gone.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

**WRITTEN BY**** - Maltese-Sapphire**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY**** - Maltesegirl50**

**This chapter is certainly the longest in the story so far, and I don't apologise for it. I spent a long time writing this one, an I must say, it was damn fun to write! =D **

**Before you read, there are a couple of things I'd like to say.**

**A) I know you never see any hunting hounds in the show, but a traditional hunt usually includes hounds. Just trying to keep things realistic here. Plus it makes a more interesting story. =P**

**B) I spent a long time on the breed before settling on the Irish Wolfhound. It was a breed used for hunting in the Middle Ages, but obviously, it came from Ireland. So I've decided that the breed has already been brought over to the mainland by explorers, hunters, nobles, etc.**

**C) I apologise in advance for any inaccuracies in this chapter regarding hunting. As many of you will probably know, hunting was, and still is, a pass-time enjoyed mostly by people who are rich, noble, aristocratic, etc. **

**(In other words, not common people like me XD)**

**Anyways, enjoy! xxx**

Merlin raced through the castle, skidding to a halt outside Gaius's chambers and began scratching at the door, barking loudly. Gaius opened the door for him a moment later.

"Gaius!" Merlin gasped, panting for breath. Running all the way from the practice feild had tired him out.

"Arthur... knights... hunt... hour...!" he managed to say between breaths.

Gaius looked suprised.

"An hour?" he exclaimed. "And you only decided to tell me now?"

Merlin scowled.

"I only just found out a few minutes ago!"

Gaius sighed.

"Fine, fine. You'd better get back to Arthur then. I'll make sure the clothes are in an easy place for him to find"

Safe in the knowledge that the plan was in action, Merlin left the physician's chambers and began to walk back through the castle in search of Arthur (he was still too tired to run). He assumed the prince would be getting ready in his chambers, but when he got there, Merlin was disappointed to see that they were empty.

"Damn it" he cursed. "He must've gone straight to the stables..."

Merlin headed quickly down to the stables, taking care to hide from any people he passed. He really couldn't afford to get kidnapped by Uther or worse, Morgana right now.

Sure enough, Arthur was leaning against Torrento's stall, patiently waiting while one of the stable boys saddled the horse.

Merlin yapped loudly, scraping at Arthur's leg with his paw.

Arthur looked down and saw Jet.

"No, Jet" he said, frowning at the puppy. "A hunt is no place for a tiny puppy like you. Anyway, you've caused enough trouble for today. Sir Owen will be out of action for at least a week, I'm told"

Jet whined and looked up at him with those big shiny eyes.

"_No_, Jet" Arthur said firmly. "Now, go make yourself useful and make Morgana's life a misery while I'm gone"

He took Torrento's reigns from the stable boy and led the horse outside.

Growling determindley, Merlin ran after Arthur.

The rest of the knights were already lined up outside on their own horses, and each of them had a huge Irish Wolfhound tethered to the saddle. The dogs sat placidly beside the horses, some of their tails wagging in anticipation of the hunt.

Arthur walked Torrento up to the other knights and was about to mount the horse when he felt a tugging at his leg. He looked down and saw Jet. The puppy was whining, and begging with his eyes that seemed to talk.

_Take me with you!_

Arthur sighed.

"Fine, you can come" he agreed reluctantly.

He scooped up the puppy and mounted Torrento, dropping Jet onto his lap. Sir Leon, who was holding the lead of a second hound, rode up beside Arthur and handed him the lead.

The large, muscular hound looked up at Jet with interest. Never before had he seen a puppy of this breed on a hunt...

Arthur gave the order to move out, and the knights began a brisk trot out of the city, towards the forest.

Merlin gripped onto the saddle with his claws; the motion of the horse on the bumpy forest floor was sure to be enough to make him fall off. He kept his eyes peeled for Gaius or his clothes, but there was no sign yet.

Soon, they were deep into the forest, where there were sure to be pleanty of animals to hunt.

"Release the hounds!" Arthur shouted, and one by one, the knights unleashed their hounds, all of which began eagerly sniffing around for prey.

Arthur released his own hound, who joined his fellows in sniffing the forest floor.

Merlin watched, interested. He'd never really payed any attention to the dogs on a hunt, but now he did, he saw how interesting it was. He watched as the dogs carefully examined every inch of the ground for a trace of any animal worthy of killing. He wondered how they could smell just one animal amungst everything else...He glanced up at Arthur, who was busy eyeing the surrounding trees for a deer, or bore, etc.

"Wait a minute!" Merlin suddenly realised something, sniffing the air eagerly. "I smell something!"

He knew he shouldn't, that he should stay with Arthur, but the urge to follow the smell was overwhelming. He had to go after it!

Quietly, Merlin lept off of the saddle and landed quietly at Torrento's feet.

He began sniffing the ground anxiously, almost obsessively trying to find the scent he had picked up. All other thoughts in his mind were gone, he just _had_ to find that smell...

He probably should stop. He knew his desire to smell was another result of the spell and that he shoudn't enourage it, but... what harm could it do in continuing his scent trail? After all, if he might end up as a dog forever, he'd better get used to it.

He lowered his head to the ground again and continued sniffing, unconsiously walking wherever the scene took him. It was getting closer... closer... almost there...

"Ow!" Merlin yelped as his head collided with something.

He looked up and came face to face with one of the wolfhounds. He didn't look happy.

"Mind out, pup!" he barked in annoyance. "Some of us have work to do!"

He rudely nudged Merlin out of his way with a flick of his huge grey paw.

"Stupid fat mutt!" Merlin shouted back at him.

The dog whipped his head round, his eyes flaring with anger.

"What did you just call me?" he growled, charging back towards Merlin.

Merlin gulped nervously. The wolfhound towered over him threateningly.

"Uh..."

"I am not a mutt, and I am certainly _not_ fat!" The hound's words were laced with fury. "Now get lost and get off my trail!"

Merlin growled visciously.

"No!" he replied threateningly, crouching down in a protective stance, baring his teeth. "This is _my_ trail!"

The dog seemed shocked at being challenged by a puppy.

Merlin wanted to kick himself. He had just picked a fight with a dog that could crush him if he wanted to! The stupid effects of the spell were becoming worse and worse.

One of the other hounds had taken interest now, and strode over to stand next to the other.

"What's going on, Mitch?" the dog asked his friend, breaking both Merlin and the other dog out of their fight stances.

The first dog, Mitch, jerked his head towards Merlin.

"Kona, I am being challeneged to a fight by a puppy!" Mitch ranted to Kona. "A puppy who suddenly thinks he can get the better of _me_! Where did he even come from?"

"Yeah, what are you doing here, pup?" Kona asked suspiciously. "You don't look like a hunting hound"

"Damn right he's not!" Mitch sneered. "Hey, let's kill him and say we hunted him down!"

The two dogs laughed togeather, making Merlin angrier.

"Well, you might be huntng hounds, but I'm not even a real dog!" he shouted back. "I'm a human!"

It sounded much more impressive in his head, Merlin decided.

The two hounds were in fits of laughter now.

"Jeez, the puppy thinks he's a human!" Kona spluttered.

"Hit your head against a tree, did ya, kid?" Mitch joked.

"I am a human!" Merlin insisted. "I was turned into a puppy by a sorceress!"

"Yeah, sure you were" Kona said sarcasticly. "And I suppose you were a lord aswell?"

"No" Merlin shook his head. "I was the prince's manservant"

The just made the two dogs laugh even harder.

Right. That was it. He's had enough of these two. Growling as fiercley as he could, Merlin lunged at Mitch's front leg, digging in his claws and sinking his teeth deep into the flesh.

The dog let out a pained whine and lept backwards, shaking Merlin off. While he examined the bite, Merlin suddenly realised what he'd done.

"I'm sorry!" he gasped desperately. "I didn't mean to do that! It's the spell, it's making me act more like a dog the longer it goes on! I didn't mean-"

He was silenced by a furious low bark from Kona.

"You've gone too far now, pup" the dog sneered.

"You're gonna regret the day you were born..." Mitch added after giving his wound a lick and deciding it wasn't too bad.

Both hounds slowly approached Merlin, their bodies low to the ground, baring their sharp teeth.

Merlin slowly began to back away, not looking forward to facing the wrath of these two.

"Great" he thought. "Now I've done it..."

He curled up in a ball and braced himself for the attack that was sure to come...

"Hey, what's going on here?"

Merlin turned around to see the voice belonged to a third hound He recognised this hound as Arthur's, the one which had stared at him curiously while they rode out. He was tall and well-built like the rest, but his muzzle was tinted with a slight trace of grey, and his eyes were a perfect blend of soft and stern. Merlin also noticed that the dog spoke with a thick Irish accent.

"Funny" he thought to himself. "I didn't think dogs spoke with different accents"

"Well?" the Irish hound asked again. "I said, what's going on?" his voice was firm, and Merlin could tell by how confident he sounded that this dog must be the alpha of the pack.

Mitch and Kona looked slightly uncomfortable.

It was Kona who first found the courage to answer.

"We found this pup skulking around, Chief" he said cautiously. "And he put Mitch off his trail and then attacked him!"

"It's true, Chief!" Mitch backed up his friend. "He's mad aswell. Say's he's a human!"

Both dogs couldn't resist laughing again, but they were quickly silenced by a glare from the older dog.

"Well then. If he's that much of a problem, you'd better leave him to me. Now both of you, get back to work" he ordered, jerking his head towards the remainder of the pack.

Mitch an Kona reluctantly walked off, shooting Merlin a dirty look as the passed.

Merlin stood still as stone whilst the older hound circled him, sniffed him, and nudged him lightly with his paw.

"What is your name?" the dog asked him.

"Merlin" Merlin replied.

"Strange name for a dog" the hound commented.

Merlin scowled. He didn't think much of being insulted by dogs.

"Yours isn't much better" he retorted. "_Cheif_"

The dog let out a chuckle and shook his head.

"That isn't my real name!" he replied in an amused tone. "The others just call me that out of respect, since I am their alpha. My name is Max"

"Max" Merlin repeated. "I guess that's a bit better"

Max shook his head thoughtfully.

"You're much too bold with your mouth, you know" he commented. "You shouldn't provoke my hounds. Dispite your size, they won't hesitate to harm you. And I don't know what came over you when you attacked Mitch"

"I didn't mean to" Merlin insisted. "It's the spell. It's making me turn into a proper dog. I really am a human"

Max sighed and shook his head.

"Where did you come from, pup?" the Irish hound asked. "And don't give me any of this 'human' rubbish, or I shall also think you mad"

"But it's the truth!" Merlin insisted. "I _am_ human! I was turned into a dog by a sorceress"

Max narrowed his eyes sternly.

"If you were a normal member of my pack, I should give you a good biting for lying to me, and for attacking another dog" Max said sternly. "However, you are not one of mine. And since you are just a puppy, I shall put your behaviour down to an over-active imagination and an under-developed conscience"

Merlin was insulted to be spoken to like this. He made a note to be a lot less kind to the dogs in future.

Suddenly, the silence of the forest was punctured by a loud howl. One of the dogs had found something. The whole atmosphere changed in a second; the dogs were going wild, charging along the trail, with Arthur and the knights following on the horses.

"Come" Max called to Merlin, running after his pack. "This is where the real work starts!"

He shouldn't really. He should stay with Arthur. But every instinct in his body was going wild. The thought of a chase, it was overpowering! He had to run with the pack!

Merlin sprinted after the hounds, having to run much faster to keep up with their huge strides through the trees. At first, he kept up a good speed, but soon began to tire. He considered stopping for a rest, but realised he would be left behind. He ran up beside Max.

"I can't keep up!" he panted tiredly.

Max slowed down slightly, bent his head down and grasped the puppy by the scruff of his neck. In one quick movement, Max swung him over his head so he landed gracefully on his back.

"Hold on tight!" he shouted, and began to run at full speed once more.

Merlin gripped as tightly as he could without digging in his claws.

"Riding on the back of a dog" he thought to himself. "Never thought I'd be doing this!"

They were running at an amazing speed. Soon enough, Max was at the front of the pack, leading the charge. The target, Merlin could see, was a young deer; no more that a fawn, really. It lept gracefully through the trees, it's spindally legs carrying it lightly and quickly. For too long, it seemed they'd never quite catch up to it.

"We can't catch it!" Merlin told Max. "It's too fast"

Max chuckled.

"Oh really? Listen, pup, I may not be as young as I once was, but I am still a flawless hunter!"

At that moment, Merlin felt the Irish hound's muscles tense dramaticly, and then they were sprinting faster yet (if that were possible). The fawn was getting closer and closer...

Without warning, Max pounced. He grabbed the fawn, digging his claws into the soft, fluffy fawn's back. He grapsed the animal's delicate neck in his jaws and shook savagely, tearing it's windpipe the shreds. The fawn let out a horrible, strangled, pained noise as it gasped desperately for breath, shuddered, and fell still. It was dead in less than a minute.

"What did I tell ya?" Max said proudly. "Still the best hunter in the pack"

Merlin was horrified. He's been on many hunts, seen many dead animals, but never had he been close enough to watch it's throat be ripped apart like that, nor had he imagined Max would be so _proud_ of tearing apart a beautiful fawn. For God's sake, it was just a baby!

He stared, wide-eyed at the carcass of the young deer, too stunned to speak.

"You alright, pup?" Max asked, amused at his stunned expression.

"No!" Merlin gasped. "You just- the fawn- killed- urgh!"

Max chuckled again.

"Kid, it's not nice, but this is just what we do. You'll get used to it" he said gently. He understood this was probably the puppy's first taste of proper hunting.

Merlin wasn't so sure he would get used to it. How could he get used to killing and being so proud of it? OK, maybe if he did end up as a proper dog, he would get used to it, but until then, he found the whole concept hard to grasp. The way Max had grabbed the baby deer so visciously; the way he had torn at it's flesh like a cushion; the sight of the fawn's body, limp, lifeless, mangled and deformed; was enough to put him off eating.

"I think it has, actually" Merlin decided. "If I ever end up as a human again, I think I'm a vegetarian now..."

Merlin suddenly noticed that they weren't alone. The rest of the pack were circling them and the dead fawn, greedy, longing looks on their faces. A couple tried to creep forward to the carcass, but Max crouched down in a fighter's stance and growled protectively at them. This was his kill, and no one was going to take it. Before any other could try anything, Max picked up the animal in his mouth and ran with it, back to Arthur and the knights.

"Why are you so proud of killing that fawn?" Merlin asked curiously. "And why wouldn't you let the others take it? It's not as if you're gonna eat it"

"Kid, what's the point in making a kill if you're gonna let someone else take the credit?" the Irish hound asked.

"Good point" Merlin agreed with a smile.

"It's not that I particularly enjoy killing, because I don't. However..." Max licked his lips. "I do enjoy the rewards..."

Sure enough, when he presented Arthur with the kill, he recieved a fond scratch behind the ears and a thick, juicy slab of meat. He quickly wolfed it down there and then, before any of the others could challenge him for it.

"Ah, Jet, there you are!"

Arthur leaned down in the saddle and scooped the puppy up from Max's back. The puppy wriggled and yapped in protest.

"Put me down!" Merlin barked. He didn't want to sit here, he wanted to be down there with the hounds!

Arthur held Jet still in his lap.

"No, you're staying here" he said. "Can't have you getting lost. Leave the hunting to the hounds"

Jet groaned moodily.

Max chuckled at him, amused.

"You've had your fun, pup, now let us do the real work, eh?" he joked, before joining his pack in sniffing out a new trail.

"Jeez, Nimueh, why couldn't you have turned me into a hunting dog?" Merlin thought sulkily.

The events of the hunt had made Merlin completely forget about Gaius and their plan. He whipped his head around, anxiously scanning the trees for Gaius or his clothes. Nothing. He hoped Gaius knew what he was doing. His humanity could depend on the success of this plan.

Within a few minutes, they were off again, chasing after the pack of hounds. Merlin barely payed attention to the hunt, instead keeping his eyes peeled. This time, it was Kona who caught the kill (a large fox, with a magnificent tail which would surely make an excelent trophy). He delivered it back to Sir Leon, who gave him a slab of meat like the one Max had recieved from Arthur. He was too busy being pleased with himself to wolf down the treat quickly, and Merlin thought he'd got what he deserved when Max had ripped it away from his subordinate's mouth.

While the hounds were once again sniffing around for a trail, Merlin saw something in the distance. It was the outline of a person, a person who quickly dropped something down on the path and disappeared into the trees again.

"Gaius!" Merlin realised happily.

To add to his good fortune, the trail the hounds picked up seemed to lead them right towards the patch where the clothes had been layed!

He should have known it was too good to be true. Before they were even halfway there, Torrento suddenly skidded to a halt. He jerked violently, trying to turn and gallop the other way. Arthur desperately tried to urge him forward, but the horse refused. He jumped, kicked and jerked, whinnying anxiously. Merlin gripped onto the saddle tightly to prevent being flung off.

"Come on, boy, calm down!" Arthur desperately tried to control the horse, stroking his neck soothingly.

His attempt only seemed to make things worse. Torrento flinched at the touch and swayed his head sideways, rearing up in fear. Arthur tried to hold on, but both he and Merlin were thrown from Torrento.

Merlin went flying through the air, his light body being thrown much further than Arthur's. His short flight came to an arrupt end when his head collided painfully with a tree. He fell to the ground, landing with a thud.

"Owww..." he moaned, feeling very dizzy. He lay on the forest floor, waiting for his vision to return to normal and wishing his head would stop throbbing.

Torrento must have had excelent aim for a horse, because Arthur landed right in a nearby ditch. He sat up slowly, the wieght of the thick mud pulling against him. Being thrown off that horse into the dust during that tournament was one thing, but being thrown off Torrento, his most treasure stallion, into a filthy _ditch_, was just about the last straw. He was beyond furious.

Sir Leon and Sir Owen had stayed behind when Torrento began to play up, while the other knights had rode on ahead with the hounds. Sir Owen had dismounted his own horse and was slowly stroking Torrento's nose, effectively calming him down. Sir Leon was desperately trying to keep a straight face.

Arthur slowly got to his feet, dripping with mud, and walked over to his horse. Without looking at either knight, he took the reigns and held them in a death grip.

"I'm going back to Camelot" he said, trying to keep his voice sounding as though nothing had happened.

"Carry on with the hunt. Sir Leon, I leave you in charge"

"Yes, Sire" Sir Leon nodded, staring at the ground. He didn't trust himself to look at the prince just that minute.

As soon as Arthur began to walk away, Sir Owen whispered to Sir Leon,

"Thrown off two horses in two days! Becoming a bit of a habit, isn't it?"

And both knights collapsed in fits of giggles, desperately muffling them in their sleeves.

Arthur whipped his head around, glaring at the pair.

"Speak of this again, and I will see you are both hanged" he growled, his voice dripping with anger.

Striding over to where Jet was lying against a tree, Arthur snatched up the puppy and mounted the horse, dropping Jet down in his lap. Ignoring both Jet and Torrento's protests and being doused in mud, he urged the horse back to Camelot, preparing himself for the humiliation in store for him.

Merlin spent the journey home in a miserable mood. Not just because of his splitting headache, or the knowledge that he would now need a bath to get rid of the mud, but because the plan had failed. Arthur hadn't gotten close enough to see the clothes. The plan was ruined. His best chance of breaking the spell was gone.

Safe in her hiding place in a large clump of bushes, Nimueh watched the hilarious scene unfold. Satisfied that Arthur would not break the spell today, she released her magic's hold over Torrento and strolled deeper into the forest, laughing triumphantly.

Arriving back in Camelot that day was surely the most humiliating moment of Arthur's life. He was stared at by ever person he passed. All of whom seemed either shocked, or trying very hard not to laugh at the sight of their prince drenched in mud (some of which was dripping onto the floor, leaving a trail). Arthur dismounted Torrento and handed the reigns over to a waiting stable boy. He picked up Jet and quickly strode inside the castle, mud dripping behind him.

Several of the servants he passed looked disapprovingly at the mud he left behind on the clean castle floors, but Arthur couldn't care at that moment. All he cared about was getting clean an trying to regain what little dignity he had left.  
"First the tournement, now this!" he thought to himself angrily. "Do all the horses suddenly hate me?"

Arthur ordered one of the servants to prepare a bath in his new chambers, pretending to ignore the stunned look on her face, and carried on upstairs as quick as he could.

Once inside the sanctuary of his chambers, he dropped Jet down on the floor, and began to remove his jacket before realising that it was covoured in thick mud. He stood there, unsure of what to do. He couldn't really do anything without covouring the place in mud. After a few minutes of awkwardness, he was glad when the servant knocked on the door.

"Come in" he called. However, he was horrified to see that it wasn't the servant girl he had origionaly talk to.

It was Gwen.

She stared at Arthur, shocked and puzzled as to why he was drenched in mud.

"What on earth happe-" she began, but Arthur cut her off.

"My horse went crazy, I was thrown off into a ditch, and now I am covoured in mud. That's the story, now will you please just draw the bath and leave, while I still have some dignity left"

Taking a moment to take in the information, Gwen quickly set about doing the task, glancing at Arthur every so often and trying her best not to even smile (and doing a rather bad job of it).

"It's ready, sire" she said, curtsying.

"Thank you" Arthur replied. "Oh, and could you sort him out aswell, please"

He jerked his head in Jet's direction.

Merlin jerked his head up, suddenly alert. There was no way he was letting _her_ touch him. He backed up against the bed, growling slightly.

Gwen wasn't bothered by the puppy's display. She picked Jet up, ignoring the way he nipped at her hand.

"Arthur, no! I am not going anywhere with _her!_" Merlin yapped loudly, causing his headache to worsen. His protesting was useless though. He was taken away and subjected to once again being bathed by both Gwen and Morgana.

A couple of hours later, Merlin lay asleep in front of the fire while his fur dried, and Arthur sat at the table writing something. The peaceful silence was disturbed by a loud knock at the door, waking Merlin.

"Come in" Arthur called.

Merlin looked up and saw Sir Leon walk in, carrying what looked like a bundle of rags.

"Sire, we found these in the forest, not long after you left"

Sir Leon held out the rags to Arthur.

"What are they?" the prince asked, eyeing the rags.

"They're clothes" Sir Leon replied. "Clothes we're sure belong to your servant, Merlin"

Melin felt a sudden glimmer of hope rise within him. His clothes! They had brought them back and given them to Arthur! Surely Arthur would get the message now!

Arthur took the clothes, staring at them in shock.

"You're right, these are his" he said quietly.

"Why were they in the forest then?" Sir Leon asked.

Arthur thought for a moment, and his eyes became wide with realisation.  
"Merlin must be in the forest" he breathed. "And if these are anything to go by, he must be in danger!"

Sir Leon looked anxious.

"What should we do, Sire?" he asked.

"Tell the kngiths to be ready at noon tomorrow. We ride out an search for him then. An we will not return without him!"

"Oh, damn it!" Merlin cursed in dismay. Arthur had gotten the wrong end of the stick, as usual! To add to his list of problems, Arthur was leading out a search party for him when he was right here in this room!

"This isn't good..." he thought to himself. "Not good at all..."

**Phew! That was a long one! Hope you enjoyed it though! I hope you liked Max, Mitch and Kona's characters. I thought it would be fun to let Merlin meet some other dogs during the story.**

**By the way, I'm sorry if some of the chapter was a bit too vivid. I think that description of Max killing the fawn might have been a wee bit much. **

**And just so you know, I COMPLETELY disapprove of hunting as a sport. But of course, these people luurved it, so it had to be written really. **

**And lastly, I was thinking about writing a spin-off chapter for this one (Chapter 14.5). I was thinking about delving deeper into Max's character. I want to write a chapter about him telling Merlin about where he came from (which of course will be Ireland; that accent was there for a reason! =P) **

**Let me know if you want me to write it. =)**

**PLEASE REVIEW! XXXXXXXXXX**


	15. Max's Story

**Chapter 14.5 - Max's Story**

**WRITTEN BY**** - Maltese-Sapphire**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY**** - Maltesegirl50**

**Well, here it is! A one-off special!**

**Since I was intrigued by the character of Max in the last chapter (and because I want to throw a bit more pointless detail into this story, I have written an extra scene from Chapter 14, in which Max talks about his past.**

**Although he's not a major role in this story (and unfortunately, we won't hear from him again), I thought it might be interesting to find out where he came from.**

**Unfortunatley, my research on Medieval Ireland didn't go so well (all I found was pointless info about land mass, weather, population, etc etc) so I'l try and keep it simple so I'm not too inaccurate. What I do know is that not many people would have sailed across the sea in that time. And I did find out that Dublin existed back then, so I shall use that city. And as far as I know, the society was developed enough to have some lords (no king, I don't think).**

**This scene is an extension of the scene where Max and Merlin meet, when they have the convo just after Mitch and Kona go skulking off. =P**

**Anyways, enjoy! =D**

**xxxxxxx**

***clears throat* I shall start off with the last sentence from that scene...**

Merlin was insulted to be spoken to like this. He made a note to be a lot less kind to the dogs in future.

"So what are you doing here?" Max asked, changing the subject. "How did you end up on a hunt?"

"A plan" Merlin explained. "The only way for the spell to be broken is for Arthur to miss me, but I only have until the next eclipse to do it or I'll be stuck like this forever"

"That's not so bad" Max commented. "There are worse thing's to be stuck as, you know"

He still didn't believe that Merlin was really a human, but he played along with it anyway. He might get a good story out of it, at least.

"Anyway" Merlin continued. "Me and Gaius, the court physician, have made a plan. Gaius is going to put my clothes somewhere in the forest where Arthur will see them, and hopefully, that should make him miss me"

"Ah, so that's why you're here. To make sure the plan works?"

Merlin nodded.

Max had to admitt, the pup was good at making up stories.

"I've told you about me, now you tell me about you" Merlin said.

"Fair enough" Max replied. "What do you want to know?"

"Why are you the only one here with a different accent?"

Max's smile faded slightly.

"Because I wasn't born here" he replied simply. "I was born on the isle across the sea"

Merlin found this quite interesting. He'd heard of that isle before, but had never met anyone actually from there. It was quite rare that people would sail across the sea to the mainland.

"What was it like over there?" he asked keenly.

"Not so different from here" Max admitted. "Perhaps a bit more wild. Less people means less settlements. Not as many of those huge, monsterous castles, either. And a lot more animals to kill. A hunting hound's dream"

The hound stared into the distance, sighing longingly.

"Do you miss it there?" Merlin asked him.

"Yes" Max replied. The far-off gaze in his eyes showed he was obviously day-dreaming.

Merlin gave him a minute before pressing on with his questions.

"So how did you end up in Camelot?"

Max's dreamy expression changed into a slight frown of distaste. He let out a sigh and began to tell his story.

"For my whole life, all I have been is a hunting hound. I was born into a pack owned by the Lord Tiarnán of Dublin. Right from when I was a pup, I was trained to be a hunter. I live for the thrill of a hunt; I felt so proud when I made my first kill. I still remember how I swelled with happiness when Lord Tiarnán told one of his men that I was the best hunter he'd ever had"

Merlin noticed the hint of pride in Max's words as he spoke.

"What did you hunt?" he asked eagerly.

"Oh, so many animals. Rabbits, foxes, deer, bears, wolves-"

"_Wolves?_" Merlin was suprised to hear that dogs could take on wolves.

Max nodded.

"Oh yes. My kind are often used to bring down wolves, as we are so big and powerful. Still, it takes a skilled hunter and confidence to bring down a wolf"

"Did you ever catch any?"

"Several" Max stated proudly. "I brought down my first wolf when I was only just fully grown. That's when Tiarnán noticed my skill. From that day on, I was his most prized hound"

Merlin was confused.

"But then why did he give you away?" he asked, his head cocked to one side curiously.

Arthur had never given any of his hounds away, no matter how good or bad they were.

Max's eyed filled with sadness as he continued.

"Unfortunately, Lord Tiarnán wasn't one to get attatched to his dogs. He never treated us badly; he always made sure we were well cared for, but he never got personally attatched to any of us; not even me. We were just animals to him. Even my name didn't have much thought in it. Another dog once told me that I was the latest in a string of other pups with the same name. As soon as one died, another was given the name. I admitt, I do wish Tiarnán would have gotten more attatched to us, but I was content with the life I had.

"During my third summer, word reached us hounds that Tiarnán would be travelling to the mainland to visit another kingdom; an effort to keep the peace, or something. We also heard that he would be choosing a selection of dogs to travel with him. Of course, we were all excited by this news. We assumed that being chosen would mean the chance to hunt in a different land. It was quite amusing really, to see them all competing against eachother to get Tiarnán to notice them in particular.

"In the end, Tiarán came down to the kennels one day to choose which of us would travel to the mainland with him. I was chosen, along with 3 other dogs; Cuan, another skilled hunter like myself, Erin, a young bitch, and Kona"

"Kona?" Merlin was taken-aback.

Max nodded.

"Yes, Kona" he said. "He was just a small pup then, I doubt he remembers much of his time with Tiarnán's pack. He was the pup that showed the most potential of that year's litters, I assume he was chosen because of that.

"Anyway, we four were chosen to accompany Tiarnán to the mainland. I can't say the journey was very enjoyable. The boat swayed so much we felt sick, and I wasn't able to run for days. I'll admit the views of the sea were quite nice, though I din't enjoy the icy sea spray that came with it. I much prefer dry land.

"Eventually, we reached the mainland, and began the journey here, to Camelot. At first, we were all four impressed by this new land. It intrigued us, especially the castle. There were some castles in my homeland, but none as huge or strong as this. Such a shame we never got the chance to see inside; we were taken straight to the kennels while Tiarnán went inside to meet the King. Uther, I hear is his name.

"That day must be one of the saddest I have lived. It was a dreadful feeling, waiting all day in those unfamiliar kennels with those unfamiliar dogs for Tairnán to come and take us back home. He never did come back to us. For days I sat by the fence, anxiously looking for him, but he never came. Eventually I realised he had gone back home without us"

Merlin thought that Max's story was quite sad. He thought it was horribly cruel of Tiarnán to just leave his dogs behind like that.

"Why did he leave you?" he asked Max. "He said you were his best hound!"

"Yes, I was" Max agreed. "Which is exactly why he left me. Days later, when the king came to the kennels to see us new dogs, I heard him say it was very generous of Lord Tiarnán to offer his best dogs as a peace gift. Hearing that made me feel so betrayed. I had given everything to Tiarnán, and he had passed me on as a simple gift, not a grain of gratitude for all my hard work"

Max's words were laced with bitterness now. The old dog had obviously not told many others about his story, and didn't seem used to sharing his painful memories.

"What happened to the other dogs?" Merlin asked Max, after giving him a moment to let his anger pass.

"Well, Kona is still here, of course" Max replied. "Cuan died a few winters ago. He was older than me, and just didn't wake up one morning. I suppose the winter frost was too much for him"

Max shook his head sadly before continuing.

"Erin, I'm afraid, had a much more untimely end. Females are not often used for hunting, you see. They say males are stronger, sturdier. Many females are kept for breeding. Erin bore a fair few litters in her time, and served her purpose well. Unfortunately, once her body was unable to bare anymore pups, she was taken away and never came back"

Upon seeing the shocked expression on Merlin's face, Max quickly continued.

"That's just the way things are, I'm afraid. Once a hound is too old to either hunt or breed, they are taken away. It's just what happens"

He said it so plainly, as if it were a meaningless fact, not to be given a second thought as to how unfair it was.

"And... you think that's what will happen to you?" Merlin asked cautiously, not wanting to offend Max,

"Oh yes" the old dog stated, no emotion in his voice. "One day, when I am too old to hunt. But it doesn't bother me. I doubt I could be happy living and not being able to hunt. No, I shall die happy, for I know I have fulfilled my purpose. I have lived, I have hunted, and I have hunted to the absolute best I possibly can. And now I know I have done that, I can die proudly"

Merlin was touched at Max's sense of nobility. This old dog had so much wisdom inside him. Wisdom Merlin had never thought dogs could possess. He thought it was amazing at how proud Max was, how he didn't fear death because he knew he had lived a worthy life.

"Such a shame humans can't talk to dogs" Merlin thought sadly. "People could learn a lot from this dog"

A thoughtful silence filled the air, a silence neither Merlin nor Max felt the need to break.

Suddenly, the silence of the forest was punctured by a loud howl. One of the dogs had found something. The whole atmosphere changed in a second; the dogs were going wild, charging along the trail, with Arthur and the knights following on the horses.

"Come" Max called to Merlin, running after his pack. "This is where the real work starts!"

**Weeeeeell? What did you think? I know it's not particularly long, detailed or relevant, but I thought it would be nice to show more of Max's character. Plus, I think it's an interesting concept that animals know and understand a lot more than we give them credit for. Agree or disagree, that's up to you, I don't mind. **

**Back to the origional plot at hand for the next chapter. Patience will be required, dear readers, as Maltesegirl50 and I have just started college, and will need to put work first, unfortunately. Rest assured, however, updates will come eventually!**

**And finally, we have purpously kept that chapter back until October 11th, because it is Bradley James's 27th birthday today! =D**

**(Oh, and it's my 15th birthday in 4 days! :D)**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

**WRITTEN BY**** - Maltesegirl50**

**CO-WRITTEN AN EDITED BY**** - Maltese-Sapphire**

**And we're back! **

**Yes, it's been a while since we've updated, but like I said, we've both been kidnapped by an evil, horrifyingly ugly demon which goes by the name of College. And I'm afraid our captor only allows us to write when he see's fit. I know, it's horrible, but it's better than nothing, right? *begging smile***

**Oh, and remember, this story takes place somewhere in Series 1, so please don't be freaked out by Morgana being nice. I know, it's strange, considering the events of Series 3, but she was nice back then. And I still like to think Morgi isn't truly evil. It wasn't her fault she had the bad influences of Morgause (who does NOT win Sister of the Year in my books!).**

Merlin could only watch as Arthur paced the length of the room constantly, raving to himself and, in Merlin's opinion, acting very over-dramatic. Although Merlin had to admit he was flattered that Arthur was this concerned about him, he couldn't ignore the flaw in the plan he'd had so much confidence in. He'd meant for Arthur to realise he missed him when he found his clothes, but instead the stupid clotpole thought he was lost in the forest! Merlin longed to shout at him that he'd got it all wrong, but of course he couldn't, given the fact that he was currently a puppy.

"And that's not gonna change if he doesn't miss me!" Merlin thought to himself in frustration. "I need to go find Gaius..."

Glancing at Arthur, who was still pacing and talking to himself, Merlin wondered how easy it would be to just sneak out of the room and go to Gaius's chambers. Walking slowly to stop himself making too much noise, Merlin began to creep towards the door. He was just trying to nudge the door open with his nose, when someone from outside suddenly pushed it wide open, sending him flying sideways into a wall.

"Ow..." he moaned, rubbing his head with his paw.

"Arthur, what's all the shouting about?" came a familiar feminine voice. Merlin looked up to see Morgana had walked in, closely followed by Gwen.

"It's Merlin" Arthur explained. "The knights found those in the forest"

He gestured to the clothes on the table.

Both women gasped, their faces a mixture of confusion and concern.

"But that means..." Gwen began.

"...Merlin's out in the forest!" Morgana finished for her.

"That's what I think" Arthur replied, running a hand through his hair.

"Well, we must find him!" Morgana said urgently.

Arthur looked at her in surprise.

"I didn't know you cared about him, Morgana" he said.

"You're not the only one who cares about servants, Arthur" Morgana retorted.

Arthur raised his eyebrows, but pushed the matter aside.

"OK, whatever. Anyway, I'm riding out first thing tomorrow morning to look for him"

"We're coming too" Morgana said firmly.

Arthur sighed.

"No, Morgana. The forests can be dangerous. You and Gwen stay here" he argued.

"We don't care what you say, we're still coming!" Morgana shot back, standing up straighter with her nose in the air determinedly. "Right, Gwen?"

"Um, yes, of course" Gwen replied a little uncertainly. As a servant, she was naturally a bit nervous about defying the prince.

Arthur sighed in frustration.

"OK, fine!" he shouted in defeat. "Be ready outside the stables just before dawn. I want to leave before my father has a chance to try and stop me"

"We'll be there" Morgana said triumphantly before taking Gwen's hand and marching from the room, shutting the door firmly behind her, and cutting off Merlin's escape route.

Merlin, who had been watching the discussion from a corner, groaned in annoyance. They were all going to ride out to look for him, while he was right here in this room! What would they do when they couldn't find him anywhere? He longed to go find Gaius and ask him for advice, but Morgana had shut the door on her way out, and doubted he could open it without Arthur noticing. For tonight at least, he was stuck.

Being stuck inside Arthur's chambers when he really needed to go and see Gaius proved very frustrating. For the rest of the evening he couldn't settle in one place, constantly getting up and moving to another area, sitting there for a few minutes before getting up and repeating the process again. He found it impossible to just sit there and do nothing while his future as a human was in danger.

Arthur found it hard to concentrate on anything that evening. He'd tried reading, he tried doing some work, he'd even tried sharpening his own sword for once, anything to take his mind off of his missing servant. But it was useless. He just couldn't focus on anything. In the end, he sent for some food, thinking that at least eating was something to do. When it arrived, however, he just didn't feel like eating. He moved the food around on the plate distastefully, not in the mood to eat any of it. He'd considered giving it to Jet, since he'd rather not waste such good food, but strangely, the puppy didn't seem hungry either.

Jet had been behaving oddly all evening. He wouldn't settle in one place, he kept moving around awkwardly as though there was something prying on his mind as well.

"Of course not" Arthur told himself. "Dogs can't think like that"

Couldn't they?

He assumed Jet was just bored, and expected him to cheer up when dinner arrived. However, when Arthur gave him the bowl of dog food, he nibbled a bit of the meat and then slumped down on the floor in front of the bowl, whining sadly.

Arthur leaned down to stroke Jet's back.

"What's wrong, boy?" he asked, half-expecting a reply.

Jet whined again, still not moving.

Arthur quickly checked the puppy over, making sure he wasn't sick or injured. There was nothing obviously wrong, so why was Jet so sad?

Pushing the matter aside, Arthur decided to try and get some sleep. He'd need it if he was going to ride out at dawn. Once a servant had come to take away the untouched food (in a strange act of kindness, Arthur told the servant he could have the plate for himself), Arthur quickly changed and got into bed, this time lifting Jet up onto the bed straight away.

"He always ends up sleeping on it anyway, may as well do it now" he thought.

Jet pawed at the pillow for a few minutes before he finally flopped down and tried to settle. Even then he shifted around a lot, unable to relax.

Arthur watched him for a while, curious as to the reason behind Jet's strange behaviour. Even his eyes looked different, as though there was something troubling him, or as if he were deep in thought.

He reached out and began to softly stroke Jet's side, trying to relax his tense muscles. Jet resisted at first, trying to wriggle away, but he soon began to enjoy it. He rolled over on his back for Arthur to stroke his stomach, his tail thumping the bed happily. A few minutes later, Jet was fast asleep. And not long after, so was Arthur, his hand still resting on top of Jet.

Merlin wasn't used to waking up shortly before sunrise, so naturally he felt a bit annoyed when he was awoken by the loud noises of Arthur putting on his armour.

He yawned and stretched, his mind not fully awake yet. Only a few minutes later did he remember why Arthur was awake so early. He was riding out to look for _him_.

Suddenly much more alert, Merlin jumped off the bed and shook himself awake, the noise alerting Arthur.

"Ah, you're awake" he said, watching as Jet yawned and stretched himself.

He put a bowl of food down for Jet, and was pleased when the puppy trotted over and immediately began wolfing down the meat scraps.

"Nice to see he's got his appetite back" Arthur thought to himself.

When Merlin was done, he looked up and saw that Arthur was busy checking his sword was sharp enough, with his back turned to him.

"Great" Merlin thought. "While he's distracted, I can slip out of here..."

He quickly and quietly sprinted over to the door, which had thankfully been left slightly ajar by whichever servant had delivered breakfast. He was just beginning to slowly nudge it open further with his nose when...

"Jet! Get back here now!"

Merlin groaned as he heard Arthur's voice.

Arthur shook his head as Jet slowly began to walk towards him.

Having a sudden idea, he quickly retrieved the collar and lead he had used during the disastrous training session, and somehow managed to force the collar around the wriggling puppy's neck and tied the end of the lead to the bedpost.

"Has to be done" he said to Jet, who was growling in frustration as he tried to chew through the lead. "Bad things happen when I leave you on your own. If you don't scare the horses to death, you'll either be killed by Sir Owen for hurting his leg or cuddled to death by my father. You're staying in here and that's final"

In response, Jet turned his back to Arthur and lay down sulkily.

Arthur chuckled.

"Fine, sulk all you want. See you later"

And he left, shutting the door firmly behind him.

As soon as he was gone, Merlin immediately began biting the lead again, trying to break the strong leather. But however hard he bit, the thick material was too hard for his puppy teeth. Although needle sharp, they weren't very strong. But that didn't stop him trying. And when biting didn't work, he tried scraping the collar off with his paw and charging straight ahead to snap it, but neither worked. He even tried barking loudly, hoping someone would come and free him, but no one came. He was stuck.

He gave up, collapsing to the floor in hopelessness. He didn't know how long he lay there daydreaming for, but he was only broken from his trance when a strange figure suddenly walked into his sight. It was a woman. Merlin looked up and flinched in surprise when he saw who it was.

It was Nimueh.

**Oooooooooooh, cliff hanger! :D**

**Not sure when the next chapter will be up, but we will write it as soon as we possibly can; Scout's Honor (yes, I was a Scout :P). **

**And again, don't be scared by nice Morgi. This is Series 1, remember. And she can't be all bad, right? =}**

**Reviews are made of chocolate. Tasty and devilishly addictive. *licks lips* :D**

**xxxxx**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

**WRITTEN BY**** - Maltese-Sapphire**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY**** - Maltesegirl50**

**Hola! We're back again! (yes, there's not getting rid of us just yet :P)**

**Yet again, thank you so much for all your lovely reviews. It makes us both so happy to hear that you like the story (especially that you found it funny ^^) Unfortunately, I am vain enough to refer to the lovely messages in my inbox as "fanmail" XD**

**Anyways, chapter 17 is here!**

Nimueh was growing annoyed. She had been watching Merlin since she first casted the spell that turned him into a puppy. And she had to admit, she was quite impressed as to how close he had come to breaking the spell. Too close. The incident involving his clothes in the forest was far too close for comfort. It was out of sheer out of luck (and Arthur's sheer stupidity) that the plan didn't have the desired effect. No way was she going to let that happen again. The eclipse was due the next day, at which point her spell would be complete. All she had to do was make sure there was no chance of Merlin coming close to breaking the spell between now and then.

Nimueh watched from the safety of her lair as the prince left Camelot with Morgana and Gwen, and once sure the coast was clear, she teleported herself into the castle.

Within a second, she was inside Arthur's chambers. Glancing around the room quickly, she spied a small furry black lump lying by the bed. Smiling, she walked over to the puppy, standing right in front of it.

Merlin stared in shock at the person in front of him.

Nimueh? Why would she dare come here?

His ever-growing dog instincts kicked in, and Merlin quickly lept up onto all four paws, snarling threateningly at the unwanted intruder.

Nimueh mearly laughed at him.

"You!" Merlin barked at her. His dog instincts kicked in and he immediately lunged forward to attack, only to be yanked back by the damned lead tying him to the bedpost. Annoyed, he began attacking the lead, fruitlessly chewing on it in an attempt to snap it. God, he hated having the mind of a dog sometimes.

Nimueh mearly laughed at him.

"Well, it's nice to see my spell is working properly" she said, her voice laced with fake cheerfulness.

"What do you want?" Merlin spat at her in his normal puppy growls.

"Can't I visit an old friend when I feel like it?" Nimueh asked mockingly.

This woman was as infuriating as she was evil. Merline was considering lunging at her...

"Don't even think about it" Nimueh said vauguelly whilst examining her nails. "I'm _far _more powerful than you are right now. And with a bit of luck it might just stay that way"

"Why are you here?" Merlin asked, forcing himself not to give her the satisfaction of seeing how angry he was.

"Oh I think we both know that" Nimueh replied seriously, her eyes narrowing at Merlin dangerously.

She paced back and forth lazily, whilst Merlin watched her every move like a hawk.

"I am here" Nimueh continued, "Because you have come far too close to breaking the spell for my liking. I have been watching you since I casted the spell and I must admit, you've come closer than I expected to breaking it. It was amusing to watch your worthless attempts at first, but that last one with the clothes was the last straw"

She paused for a moment to take in a deep breath, shuddering with anger and frustration.

"What do you expect me to do?" Merlin retorted bitterly, growling threateningly at the horribly beautiful woman in front of him. "Just sit here and wait for the spell to become permanent?"

"You'd be doing me a big favour, believe me" Nimueh shot back sarcastically.

"Well, it must be your unlucky day. Because your plan will fail. Arthur _will_ miss me enough to break the spell"

Merlin's voice sounded a lot more confident that he felt.

Nimueh must have sensed his uncertainty. She laughed in amusement.

"Don't be ridiculous!" she chuckled evilly. "We both know the prince doesn't care about you. Like he would really miss a servant, especialy a useless one like you. He's not going to break the spell and you know it"

Merlin shook his head, refusing to believe her painful words.

"No" he said flatly. "That's not true. Arthur does care about me"

He was saying it more to himself, to force himself to ignore Nimueh.

The sorceress chuckled and shook her head.

"Oh come on, when has he ever genuinely cared about you?"

Merlin raked his brains.

"When you tried to poison me" he said triumphantly. "He went all the way to those caves and got the antidote"

Nimueh waved it aside. "That was out of honor. You saved his life and he was just returning the favour. Arthur would do that for anyone"

Merlin was finding it increasingly hard not to believe what she said.

"Anyway, if I were Arthur, I'd prefer you as a dog. You're a lot more likable" She leaned down to stroke Merlin's fur, but recieved a sharp bite on the hand instead. Gasping in pain, she pulled back her hand and examined the small drop of blood on her fingertip.

"You'll regret that, you know" she sneered. "No one likes a vicious dog"

Merlin's whole body tensed with rage.

"Look, I know Arthur will break the spell!" he spat at Nimueh. "So just get out of here and wait for your plan to fail; just like they always do"

Nimueh smiled slyly.

"Alright then, I'm leaving"

She turned and began walking to the door. Merlin was amazed that she was actually leaving so easily.

Nimueh suddenly paused and looked back.

"But first" she said innocently. "Just one final thing before I leave..."

She began softly muttering words in a strange language, and Merlin suddenly began feeling lightheaded and dizzy, and his eyes grew cloudy.

"Hey, what are you doing?" he shouted as he shook his head wildly, trying to regain proper focus.

Nimueh continued chanting, walking slowly back towards him as her eyes glowed bright gold. Merlin soon found his legs felt suddenly very heavy. He collapsed to the floor in a dizzy heap, and found that he was too tired to get up again, no matter how hard he tried.

"What the Hell have you done to..." he was cut off by a loud yawn, and his heavy eyes began to close.

Nimueh smiled as the warlock-turned-puppy sunk into her magic-induced sleep. Even she had to admit that as a puppy, he was quite cute.

Kneeling down, she stroked a hand along the sleeping puppy's back.

"This will stop you from ruining yet another one of my plans. You can sleep until the eclipse is over. That should keep you out of trouble"

Chuckling lightly to herself, Nimueh stood up and transported herself back to the safety of her lair, where she would wait patiently for her spell to be completed...

**Oooooh, Nimueh, you bad bad meanie! You no can has cookies for this! *shakes fist***

**Yes, I know this isn't the longest chapter ever written, but quality not quantity, right? =}**

**Review if you like, you know how much we luurve you all for it!**

**And remember, children... In Soviet Camelot, magic purges YOU! **

**XD**

**xxx**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

**WRITTEN BY - Maltesegirl50**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY - MalteseSapphire**

**We're back again! And we are incredibly sorry about the wait! Forgive us? Pweeeeeease? We has cookies? *cute smile***

**There's no real logical excuse (apart from a horrible writer's block that has hit me in horrible ways :"() for shutting you guys out with just a cliffhanger to live on. All we can do is grovel at your feet and hope our peace offering of a humble chapter will satisfy your needs, oh amazingly wonderful readers ^^**

**Oh, and whoever saw the series finale will agree with me when I say EPIC AWESOMENESS! :D**

**Anywhom, let's see what Arthur and Co. have been up to whilst Merlin has been snoozing :P**

Arthur would never admit he was tired, but he was. He had been up since dawn and riding through the forest all day with Morgana and Gwen, looking for Merlin. Arthur had no idea where he was supposed to be looking; only that Merlin's clothes had been discovered abandoned on the forest floor. The three of them had spent the whole morning riding through the area, and had found nothing. No clue as to if Merlin was nearby. The trail was cold. After a quick lunch of rabbit (which Arthur easily trapped and killed, and Gwen skilfully roasted over a fire which Morgana made), they set off to search further into the forest.

Towards evening, the air became chilly, the sky changed from blue to navy, and the whole forest began to change from day to night.

"Arthur" Morgana called, riding up beside him. "I think we should head back now"

She spoke gently, knowing that Arthur would not just agree to go back.

"No" he said firmly. "Not yet"

"Arthur, it's almost night. We've been searching all day and we've found nothing to suggest Merlin is anywhere nearby. We can't search any longer, it's too dark"

"So we just ride back and forget about Merlin?" Arthur snapped.

"No, of course not!" Morgana replied, looking slightly offended. "I'm just saying that there's no point in continuing. We're all tired and it's not safe in the forest at night"

"Arthur, Morgana's right" Gwen added, riding up to Arthur's other side. "We've got no chance of finding Merlin tonight. Plus the horses are tired. They can't carry on for much longer, and neither can we, for that matter"

"I'm not just going to abandon him" Arthur said, forcing himself not to shout at the two women.

"None of us are, Arthur" Morgana replied, putting a hand on Arthur's shoulder. "Look, we'll ride back to Camelot for tonight, and ride out again first thing tomorrow. OK?"

"Fine" Arthur muttered, turning his horse around. "First thing tomorrow, I'm riding back out"

"So are we" Morgana replied, and the two women turned their horses and rode after Arthur.

A few minutes past without any of them speaking, all of them unsure of what to say. After all, a cheery conversation about what to have for dinner didn't seem exactly appropriate under the circumstances

It was Morgana who was the first to speak.

"Why are you so desperate to find Merlin, Arthur?" she asked. "After all, he's only a servant"

"So you wouldn't do the same if it were Gwen?" Arthur replied, his voice restrained.

"Of course I would" Morgana replied, and she and Gwen exchanged smiles. "But it's not like you're friends with Merlin, not the way you treat him"

"And what do you know about how I treat my own servant?" Arthur asked defensively.

"Well, some days you seem close, and other days you're bullying him and working him harder than a pack mule" Morgana pointed out.

"It's his job after all. Excuse me for not being a lovely dovey on him like you and Gwen." Arthur growled at her.

Gwen blushed slightly, but Morgana held firm.

"Yet you are willing to spend an entire night in the forest looking for him," Morgana pointed out.

"Merlin. Stupid, idiot Merlin" Arthur breathed with a sigh. "He's only been my servant for a couple of months, but he's been more loyal to me than anyone else. Including you Morgana"

Morgana gave an irritated "Pfft! Charming!" at this point, but Arthur ignored her.

"There's something about him. Something that's different to other servants" he continued, whilst both Morgana and Gwen listened in suprise at the prince's sudden outburst of emotion.

"He's always at my side, he challenges my authority, he tries to look out for me and always tries help me best he can. So yes. I'm willing to spend an entire night looking for him. I'll even tresspass in Cendred's kingdom if I have to. I don't care what it takes, I am going to find Merlin. Loyality isn't forgotten. Not with with me."

"What if he's dead?" Gwen dared to ask, her voice soft and dreading.

"DON'T YOU DARE SAY THAT EVER AGAIN!" Arthur yelled at her. Gwen flinched noticably, not that Arthur cared at that point.

"Face it Arthur. The chances of him surviving out here are slim" Morgana reasoned gently. "Merlin's not built for surviving alone in a forest. He's been out here for days. And naked. The chances that he's unharmed are -"

"Morgana. Stop talking. Now" Arthur's voice was laced with anger that he forced himself to control. "If you know what's best for you, you won't say another word to me"

His voice was so calm, it was more deadly that the bite of a Questing Beast.

"I know Merlin. He's alright. When we find him he's just going to look at us and say 'took you long enough'. So don't you dare say that again"

Arthur's voice trembled as he spoke. It was as though he was depserately trying to convince himself that Merlin was alive. He sounded confident, but his eyes were swimming with emotion. Worry, dread and fear.

"What so special about him anyway?" Morgana dared to ask. She wanted to know exactly what Arthur was feeling. She knew from experience that it did no good to bottle up one's feelings. "You can easily find another servant"

"NO I CANNOT JUST GET ANOTHER SERVANT!" Arthur roared at Morgana, his horse jerking to a halt in his rage. "At first I thought I was glad he was gone, I was glad of a break from his uselessness, but now I realise how much I need him"

"Whatever it is you need from Merlin, you can get from any other serv-"

"NO I CANNOT! I need Merlin! The truth is that I miss him, Morgana! I miss everything about him! I miss his uselessness, his inability to go a day without falling over himself, the way he deliberately disrespects me, everything! I miss him so much, I just want him back!"

The forest went silent in the moments following Arthur's outburst. Morgana and Gwen stared at him, a mixture of suprise and slight fear on their faces. Arthur stared at the floor, breathing heavily and forcing himself not to cry in front of the women. He gripped his horse's reins so tightly, he was sure the leather was cutting into his palms. He had admitted his feelings. He missed Merlin.

The sky, which had been a rich cobalt blue colour, was quickly washed over by a wave of dark grey clouds. Thunder rumbled loudly through the forest, and a lightening flashed through the forest, bringing down with it a torrential downpour of heavy rain.

"Quickly, we need to get back!" Morgana shouted over the noise of the storm. She and Gwen urged their horses onwards, and Arthur soon followed. He rode slightly behind the girls, and allowed a few tears to leave his eyes, safe in the knowlege that they were disguised by the rain.

Little did he know that the freak storm was a result of his declaration of how much he cared about and missed Merlin. He was completely oblivious to the fact that he had just broken Nimueh's spell.

Hidden in her cave, Nimueh let out a howl of rage and hurled a ball of fire at the wall in fury as she watched her spell fall to peices.

Safe in Arthur's warm chambers back in Camelot, the black puppy asleep on the floor was suddenly surrounded by a pool of silver light. When the light cleared, the puppy was gone. Left in it's place was Merlin, in his true human form once more.

**DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUN!**

**THE DRAMATIC FINALE! MERLIN IS HUMAN AGAIN! TA-DA! **

**An epic ending deserves a few reviews, right? :)**

**No, this isn't the end of the story yet. We still have a few more chapters to go! :D**

**Review please! xxxxxxxx**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

**WRITTEN BY - Maltese-Sapphire**

**CO-WRITTEN AND EDITED BY - Maltesegirl50**

**Glad to see y'all loved the last chapter! :D The spell is finally broken! Partaaaaaaay! *partaaay til dawn***

**And now we must zoom the camera in on Arthur's face when he realises that the cute puppy he has adopted, snuggled, hated and loved, is actually Merlin! (XD)**

*****WARNING!*** **

*****MILD SLASH AT END OF CHAPTER. READ IT IF YOU SHIP IT*****

Arthur galloped through the forests behind Morgana and Gwen, the heavy rain obscuring his vision slightly. All three of them were lucky that their horses didn't trip over anything or loose control; thunderstorms were definately not ideal riding conditions.

They rode into the citadel, where stable hands immediately rushed to take the horses into the shelter of the stables. Morgana and Gwen fled straight into the castle as fast as they could, but Arthur was in no hurry. He strolled slowly up the castle steps, not really bothered by the fact that he was soaked. Right now he didn't care about anything. He couldn't care about anything. All he could think about was how much he missed Merlin.

He walked absent mindedly through the castle, not caring in the slightest about the people he passed. A few people tried to speak to him, but he just barged past without answering. However, to his dismay, he happened to run into one of the few people he couldn't ignore.

His father.

The king stared curiously at his drenched son for a moment, before launching into his infamous rant mode.

"Where in God's name have you been all day?" he asked loudly. "Why didn't you even tell me where you were going? Do you know how worried I was to find both you and Morgana gone without a trace? I'd have thought you'd have had some consideration..."

Arthur let him finish his rant, not really listening.

"Arthur!" Uther shouted. "Are you even listening?"

"Not like I have much choice" Arthur mumbled.

Uther looked even more furious, but considering there were people around them, he pushed it aside for the moment.

"Where on Earth did you go anyway? And why in such terrible weather?" he asked, his voice trembling with forced control.

"We went to look for Merlin"

"Your servant?"

Arthur nodded.

"You're telling me you've been out from dawn til dusk in the forests, in a thunderstorm, looking for your _servant_?"

Uther couldn't understand his son sometimes. He couldn't understand why Arthur would be so concerned for his missing servant when he could easily just get another.

"Yes, we were" Arthur replied confidently. "He's been missing for days and we wanted to try and find him. And before you lecture me about taking Morgana into the forests without any gaurds, I told her to stay here, but she refused"

"Well, that's something, at least" Uther mumbled. The thought of his ward riding through dangerous forests without as much protection as possible made him want to faint. He would be sure to lecture her later on her lack of personal safety.

"Arthur, it's really not wise to show so much concern for the boy. He's only a servant, after all. Now if it were someone of higher rank-"

"Oh, will you shut up!" Arthur yelled, unable to control his anger anymore. "I don't give a damn how important Merlin is considered. He is my servant, my _friend_, and I don't see why I should just give up on him because he's only a servant!"

Uther was fuming. People stared as the hurried past, amazed at the prince's outburst towards the king.

"Get out of my sight" he breathed, his voice laced with anger.

Arthur walked past his father, glad to get away from him.

"Oh, and something's wrong with that dog of yours!" Uther shouted after his son. "He's asleep and doesn't seem to want to wake up again!"

Arthur felt his heart skip a beat. Without hesitation, he immediately began running as fast as he could up to his chambers. After loosing Merlin, he couldn't loose Jet aswell.

However, Arthur was in for a shock when he finally reached his chambers. He burst through the door and discovoured that there was no puppy in his chambers. The little dog he had grown so fond of was gone. And in his place was Merlin.

Merlin.

Arthur's servant who had been missing for days. Who he had been out all day looking for, whose clothes had been found in the forest, who was currently curled up asleep on the floor (Arthur was glad he was curled up, since his clothes still lay on the table where Arthur had left them last night).

Arthur stood there, staring at Merlin, stunned. It took a while to register the fact that his missing servant was currently asleep on his floor, naked, in the exact same place he had left Jet that morning...

Oh God.

Merlin and Jet couldn't have been the same person... right?

Arthur wanted to believe this theory, but the fact that Merlin was wearing the exact same collar and lead that Jet had worn confirmed it.

The cute puppy that Arthur had adopted was Merlin.

Arthur didn't really know what to think. He just stood there, dumbfounded. He didn't know how long he stood there for, only that something inside him suddenly snapped back into reality suddenly. The first thing he did was grab a blanket from his bed and covour Merlin with it. He then removed the collar, which was too tight around his neck considering it had been fitted to Jet's much smaller neck. He quickly checked Merlin's breathing and foun that he appeared to just be asleep. All Arthur could do was sit and wait for him to wake up. One thing was certain, when Merlin did wake up, he had a hell of a lot of explaining to do.

Merlin opened his eyes slowly and realised that something was differnet. His still half-asleep mind tried to register what was different. As he slowly woke up, he realsied that everything felt strange. His body felt different, his bone structure, and he felt... bigger. He was colder too, which he realised was due to the lack of fur. What happened to his tail? Why was it gone? And his voice... he tested his vocal chords and found that his voice had changed. It sounded human again.

Human?

Merlin suddenly felt wide awake. He pulled himself up into a sitting position, and realised with delight that the spell was broken. He was human again! He looked around the room, marvelling at the rainbow of colours he could now see, and his eyes fell upon a stern-looking prince staring at him with his arms folded.

Oh damn. Arthur.

"So" Arthur began, his voice unemotional. "You were Jet all along?"

Merlin nodded nervously.

"I should have you arrested" Arthur said sternly. He sounded disapointed, betrayed. "Why, Merlin? Using magic is strictly forbidden, but what I can't understand is why you'd use it to do something so stupid! Yes, you're the biggest idiot I know, but seriously? Turning yourself into a puppy just for a few days off? It's pathetic!"

Merlin's mouth fell open in suprise. Arthur thought he had casted the spell on himself just to get out of work? Unbelievable!

"I didn't turn myself into a puppy!" he defended, his voice hoarse from lack of use. "I was cursed!"

Arthur raised his eyebrows in suprise.

"Cursed?" he repeated.

Merlin nodded.

"You expect me to believe that someone would curse such a useless idiot like you, of all people?"

"Amazingly, I don't find that comment at all flattering" Merlin replied rudely.

Arthur ignored it for once. There were more important things to discuss.

"So, who would want to curse you, and why?" he asked.

"It's a long story" Merlin replied.

"Best get started then" Arthur retorted.

Nearly half an hour later, they were sitting togeather on the edge of Arthur's bed, Merlin still wrapped in the blanket, and Arthur looking stunned, trying to take in everything Merlin had said. Merlin had finished explaining the whole story involving Nimueh. He was quite proud of how he had adapted it slightly, leaving out any details involving his magic.

He had been very tempted to tell Arthur everything about him, about his magic. But he knew that it wasn't time yet. One day Arthur would know the truth about him, but the time wasn't right just yet. Instead, he had told Arthur that Nimueh must have decided to get rid of him to make her path to Arthur, and Uther, a bit more clearer. Luckily, Arthur believed this story.

"I must admitt though, being a puppy was pretty fun" Merlin joked.

"So you enjoy causing mayhem and misery wherever you go?" Arthur retorted.

"Hey, I didn't do that much"

Arthur raised his eyebrows at him.

"Oh really?" he replied. "Do I need to list them all for you?"

"No, don't do that-"

Too late. Arthur was already listing Merlin's crimes over the past few days.

"Let's see... You destroyed my chambers, bullied the servants, terrorised my horses, you pulled me into a pile of mud, you made my horse throw me off _twice_, one time into a ditch and the other made me loose a tournament, you humiliated me in front of the peasants and the knights, and you _bit_ Morgana! Which if my father ever discovours, you probably won't live to see another sunrise. Oh, and speaking of my father, you made him look like an idiot fawning over a puppy. Is there anything I missed?"

"Um, no, I think that's all" Merlin replied, struggling to keep a straight face.

"It's not funny!" Arthur scolded, hitting him on the arm. Forcing himself to remain serious, he asked Merlin about Nimueh's curse.

"But why would she try and make me miss you?" Arthur asked. "Bit of a strange way to break a curse"

"Exactly. She must have known that there wasn't much chance of it happening" Merlin said.

He meant it as a joke, but Arthur didn't laugh.

"Of course I missed you" the prince said quietly, staring into his lap.

Merlin narrowed his eyes.

"Why?" he asked. "I'm only your servant. You complain about me all the time. I thought you'd have been glad to get rid of me"

"You know that isn't true" Arthur replied, turning his head to look at Merlin.

Their eyes met, locking onto eachothers instantly. Neither of them knew how long them spent staring, and neither of them knew who made the first move, only that seconds later they were joined togeather in a passionate kiss.

Merlin pulled back from the kiss, breathing deeply.

"What's wrong?" Arthur asked, confused.

"Nothing.." Merlin murmered. "Just... I didn't know you felt this way"

"Neither did I" Arthur admitted with a smile.

"So do you want to- I mean, should we, you know?" Merlin stammered nervously.

"Shut up and come here" Arthur silenced him with another kiss, pulling the boy down onto the bed with him. The blanket around Merlin slipped off, not that it was needed anymore.

The next time Merlin next pulled away from the kiss, he was on his back, pinned down by Arthur's larger and stronger frame.

"I love you" Merlin breathed, smiling up at his lover.

"I love you too" Arthur replied, his smile matching Merlin's.

**Ta-da! My first attempt at writing a slash scene! How did I do? *is nervous* :P**

**Sorry if the ending was a bit vague, but I didn't know how to end it properly, so I thought I'd leave it as it is. **

**Now you may all be thinking that this is at last the end of the story, but it's not! I know, we are dragging it out for as long as possible! **

**Yes, we've seen our boys have their happy ending, but now we must see what happened to our old pal Nimueh...**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

**WRITTEN BY - Maltese-Sapphire**

**COWRITTEN AND EDITED BY - Maltesegirl50**

**Hey guys!**

**Well, I have to say, that was definately the most controversial set of reviews we've received for this story. Which I'm OK with; you're the readers, you have the right to tell us what you think of our writing. Some people ship slash, some don't. Fair enough.**

**If you do, I'm glad you liked it, and if you don't, I'm sorry it didn't turn out your way, but I hope you enjoyed the story up until then.**

**Right, now let's see what our old pal Nimueh is up to...**

"Can you please stop laughing now?" Nimueh snapped in annoyance at the dragon in front of her.

Nevertheless, the dragon continued to laugh in his great rumbling voice that echoed through the cave.

Nimueh gripped the torch in her hand tightly, trying to keep her magic under control. She knew it was useless try to curse a dragon.

Eventually, the dragon managed to stop laughing long enough to peer at Nimueh triumphantly.

"So I was right all along" he said in his smug voice. "It's just a shame you needed to go to the troulbe of turning Merlin into a puppy to find out"

"It was a stupid bet anyway" Nimueh muttered. "You probably enchanted them to make them fall in love anyway"

The dragon gave the sorceress a stern look.

"You know that is not true" he said seriously. "I am a dragon, I can see all that once was, is, and will be. I always knew the truth of Arthur and Merlin's feelings for eachother. It's just your stubborn nature that refused to believe me"

"Whatever!" Nimueh snapped. "I'm leaving!"

She turned to leave the cave, but the dragon called her back.

"Just one moment, sorceress" he called. "I believe we have other matters to discuss"

Nimueh stopped and turned back to face the dragon.

"What matters...?" she asked suspiciously.

"I believe that during the course of our little bet, you took it upon yourself to cheat"  
Nimueh gave him a mock hurt look.

"Me? Cheat? Why would you even suggest such a thing?"

"Do not play the fool with me, witch. I know all about your little scams"

"Scams? What scams?"

"Enchanting Arthur's horse to stop him from finding the clothes planted in the woods?" the dragon said, his eyebrows raised knowingly.

Nimueh gave him a shifty yet denying look.

"A one off" she said firmly.

"Oh really?" the dragon replied. "And what about casting a sleeping spell on Merlin until the eclipse? Was that a one off too?"

"So I cheated, big deal! You won your stupid bet anyway. Happy now?"

"Very" the dragon said smugly.

"Good. Then I'm leaving"

Nimueh turned to leave the cave once more, but was again called back.

"Oh, just one more thing, please" the dragon called, faking politeness. "I do believe that you have forgotten one tiny detail"

"And what's that?" Nimueh asked suspiciously.

"Now I consider myself a wise creature. And we wise creatures do not believe in gambling or betting. However, I do believe that you cheated more than once during the course of our bet. Which makes you a cheater. And cheaters always get what's coming to them..."

Before Nimueh had a chance to reply, she was surrounded by a cloud of purple smoke. When the smoke cleared, the lit torch she had carried lay on the floor, extinguished ontop of the clumpled red dress the sorceress had worn.

And out of the pile of cloth, clambered a tiny, fluffy tabby kitten.

The dragon laughed victoriously at the sight of the powerful sorceress reduced to a tiny cat.

The kitten hissed back at him in disgust.

And the moral of the story is, children...

Never make a bet with a dragon.

**THE END!**

**AAAAAAAND, WE'RE DONE!**

**The Prince and the Puppy has come to it's hilarious conclusion! Nimueh = kitty kat! XD**

**Yes, I kid you not, this is the end of the story :"( **

**But although we are sad that we have no more chapters to offer you lovely people, we do have a parting gift: a chance to see behind the scenes of the making of this story!**

**If you'd like to see the origional layout for this story, we'd like to post it up for you. Yes, it's the story plan that we once begged for your help in writing. :P For some reason, I had the urge to make it funny, so you might get a laugh out of it, as well as spotting which parts we changed or removed along the way.**

**So, review and let us know if you'd like to see it, and if you do, we'll have it up for you soon. :)**

**xxxxx**


	21. Behind the Scenes of the Story :D

**I AM SO SORRY I TOOK SO LONG TO POST THIS BUT I SWEAR ON THE GRAVES OF THE MANY PEOPLE THAT HAVE DIED IN MERLIN THAT I HAVE A GOOD REASON! **

**Basicly, the day after I posted the final chapter, my laptop had to go in for repairs. And I only just got it back today. I'm pretty damn greatful they didn't revert it back to factory settings without permission like last time (grrr), so the fact that I still have these files is enough of a relief. :P Anyway's...**

**Welcome to this special Behind The Scenes look of The Prince and the Puppy! :D**

**As a little celebration of the story finally being finished, we thought we'd share with you the story plan we've based the story on. We got the idea when we re-read it a few weeks back and thought "hey, the readers might actually be interested in this". If you are, here it is! =P**

**This plan is actually a lot funnier than it sounds. I (Maltese-Sapphire) was in a strange mood when I wrote up this plan :P**

**Enjoy!**

**P.S - You should know that we have re-named the Great Dragon. He is now called "Ole Slashy". Cos let's face it, he totally ships it! :D**

Merlin has a day off (yayz!). Goes for walk in the forest.

Nimueh follows Merlin. Changes Merlin into cute puppy to stop him getting in the way of her evil plots. (yh, great plan, Nimmy! *highfive*)

Arthur is out hunting. Find's puppy, takes back to Camelot as pet. (Merlin is not amused :P)

Arthur names puppy Jet. (Don't laugh! Is cool name!)

Arthur takes puppy to see Uther. Uther eventually decides to keep the puppy.

Merlin is like "wtf? He likes me when I'm a DOG?"

Arthur runs into Morgana on his way up to his chambers.

She's like "aaaaw, cute puppy! ME WANTS!"

Arthur snatches puppy back. He's like "NO! MAH PUPPEH!"

Merlin is like "This better continue when I turn back!"

Arthur isn't sure what to do with Jet. Servant deliver's dinner. Arthur gives Jet a bit of chicken in a bowl. Jet eats. Jet is still hungry, however, so Arthur send a servant to get some dog food. Merlin is reluctant at first, but discovours it's actually quite nice.

Arthur makes Jet a bed on the floor, but Merlin decides he wants to sleep on the bed. He jumps onto the bed and sleeps next to Arthur. (awww ^^)

Next morning, Arthur goes out training, leaves Jet alone in chambers.

Merlin trashes the place as payback for everything Arthur makes him do.

Merlin goes for walk around castle, trying to find Gaius. Gets lost. He runs into Uther. Uther takes Jet to a council meeting, sits with puppy on his lap. Uther conducts meeting seriously whilst the Jet eats all the food on the table. Court members are like "wtf is that puppy doing here?"

Arthur bursts in, angry about the mess in his room. Threatens to kill Jet. Uther get's angry, shouts "I'd like to see you try!"

Uther and Arthur fight, Jet runs out of room.

Merlin decides to go and have some fun. He finds his way down to the stables and goes around barking and scaring the horses.

Arthur finds Merlin, catches him and dumps him with Morgana to keep him out of trouble.

Morgana decides that Jet is dirty and tries to give him a bath. Gwen is holding him down whilst Morgana washes him. Jet bites Gwens arm to make her let go and jumps out. He shakes himself, getting Morgana and Gwen all wet, and runs out of the room.

Morgana and Gwen chase him, and they run into Arthur. Jet whines at Arthur.

Arthur is like "WTF Morgana, you're traumatizing him!"

Arthur takes Jet back to the spare chambers he is now sleeping in (his own are still a mess).

Makes Jet a bed on the floor, goes to bed.

Jet decides he wants to sleep on the bed aswell, barks up at Arthur until he lifts him up onto the bed (is too small to jump =D).

Arthur has touchy convo with Jet saying he misses Merlin. Merlin gets hopeful, thinking he's broken the spell. The Arthur says "Still, it's nice to get away from his uselessness once in a while"

And Merlin is sad. ="(

Next morning, replacement servant comes, Jet is NOT happy. Growls at and tries to bite when Arthur isn't looking.

Arthur goes out training, leaves Jet with servant. Jet terrorises servant as he works, making more mess, tripping over, etc.

Servant looses temper. Just as Arthur walks in, servant starts shouting and swearing at Jet and tries to kick him. Jet goes running to Arthur, whining. Arthur fires servant. Merlin is happeh =D

Arthur knows Jet was causing trouble, so he's like "Wtf this dog is insane! He needs to be trained"

Next morning, Arthur takes Jet out to the courtyard to train. Merlin has had enough of being told what to do and decides not to listen to Arthur at all and winds him up by not following the commands properly. (Refusing to come back or stay when told to; when Arthur says sit, he rolls over; etc)

Morgana finds them in the courtyard and laughs at Arthur's bad training. She takes over, and Merlin follows her commands perfectly just to wind Arthur up.

Next, Arthur tries to train Jet to walk on a lead. Jet doesn't like this, and tries to get it off by pulling on it and biting it. He refuses to walk with it, and sits still when Arthur walks. When he spots a cat, he decides to behave like a real dog and lunges forward after it, pulling Arthur down into a pile of mud.*points and laughs*

Jet runs after the cat, only coming back when Morgana calls him.

Arthur gives up on training, furious.

That night, Merlin sneaks out to find Gaius. Finds Gaius, tries to convince him who he is by sneaking into his room and showing Gaius one of his neckerchiefs. Unfortunately, Gaius no can has Maths GCSE (inside joke) and thinks he's just a lonely puppy (aw, poor puppy =P).

Merlin takes neckerchief to Arthur, hoping he will either recognise him or realise he misses him. Takes back, decides to give to Arthur at the right time.

Next morning, Arthur goes off training before Merlin wakes up. Merlin wakes up, takes neckerchief down to show Arthur.

Runs into Uther, who kidnaps him and takes him to the throne room where he is meeting poor and smelly people who want money for farming and crap. Gaius comes to see king to complain about Jet, it astonished to see Uther is loving the puppeh. Storms out all annoyed. EPIC FAIL. XD

Merin sneaks off while Uther is busy to go find Arthur. Finds Arthur in jousting tournoment. Runs onto the feild, barking loudly to get Arthur's attention. Barking spooks horse, Arthur looses joust (booo!). Iz real pissed off at Jet.

Merlin tries to give Arthur the neckerchief, but Arthur is pissed off at him and when Jet continues pestering him, he's like "wtf Jet, piss off already!"

So he does just that. Pisses off.

Goes to the woods where he was first changed. Finds his clothes, lays on top, looking all sad. Wishes he was human again.

Suddenly, hears someone nearby. Sees it's Gaius. Barks like hell, makes Gaius come over. Gaius is like "wtf, it's that puppy that invaded my room last night!" Notices Merlin's clothes. Is like "wtf, Merlin's clothes!" (yes, Gaius says wtf a lot, but obviously they can't show us that on tv =P)

Merlin tries to tell Gaius who he is, indicating his clothes and barking. Gaius is like suspicious puppy. Must take back to Camelot" Takes puppy back to Camelot.

Merlin goes running into his room barking. Gaius follows. Merlin finds magic book his magic book, paws the book and whines. Gaius eventually puts two and two togeather and asks the puppy if he's Merlin. Merlin goes wild, barking and yapping. Gaius is like "yayz! I has found Merlin!" then is like "wtf, Merlin's a puppy!"

Merlin and Gaius try to find a spell to change him back. No workey =/

Merlin is sad ="(

Gaius finds a spell that will let him understand Merlin. Spell works. Whoop! *partaaay* :D

Merlin tells Gaius everything. Gaius tells Merlin to go kiss and make up with Arthur (yes, really =D)

Yh, this chapter didn't really go anywhere =/

(Loyal fans will remember that this was the point where we shamelessly begged for your help =P)

Merlin goes off to find Arthur and use his puppeh charm to make him forgive him. Arthur is like "Me no likey you Jet, go die in a hole!" (or something like that) =P

Merlin is sad. ="( Goes to ask Ole Slashy for help.

Dragon: LMFAO

Merlin: Is no funneh! Now help me, Lizard Ass!

Dragon: No can has help. This is something you must figure out yourself, young warlock. *smokes crack pipe* Oh, and you need to turn back before the next eclipse or you'll be stuck forever. Have fun! =P

Merlin is like "ohnoez! No wanna be puppeh foreverrrrrrrrr =O"

Merlin goes run run running back to Gaius, is like "ohnoz! Gaius! Have to change back before eclipse or me = doggy forever!"

Gaius is like "ohnoez! Eclipse in 3 days!"

Merlin + Gaius is like "OHNOEZ!"

Merlin tells Gaius that Arthur is still mad at him and dragon refuses to help (bad bad Ole Slashy).

Gaius comes up with master plan.

When Arthur next goes hunting, he will sneak after them and plant Merlin's clothes in the forest for Arthur to find and think "wtf! Nekkid Merlin in forest!"

(Maltesegirl50, keep your slashy thoughts to yourself plz)

Merlin agrees to plan, promises to find out when Arthur next goes hunting and tell him. Goes back to Arthur's chambers.

Runs into Uther and Arthur on the way. Arthur is still sulky, but Uther is still going mad for ze cute puppeh =P

Arthur takes Jet back up to his chambers. After a large dose of "I is a cute puppeh, please love me", Arthur forgives Jet and they snuggle up in bed togeather. Aaaaawww =P

Next morning, Merlin starts to act differently, to show he is slowly changing perminantly into a dog. In the words of Maltesegirl50, he is "loosing his Merliny Stuff"

This is shown by Merlin waking up when a servant brings in breakfast and starts barking like a maniac (dogs are very territorial), can't help but jump up at Arthur trying to get his food, and when Arthur tells him to sit, he does (which makes him think "wtf is happening to me?").

Whilst watching Arthur train with the knights, he spots a cat across the field and chases after it, tripping over one of the knights and causing him to drop his sword on his foot. Arthur catches Jet, and shouts "bad dog!" at him. Merlin feels genuinely sad about that (another dog trait which suprises him). At the end of training, Arthur tells the knights to be ready in an hour for the hunt. Merlin dashes off to tell Gaius.

Gaius gathers the clothes and tells Merlin he will plant them ahead of the hunting party so Arthur will spot them. Merlin goes back to Arthur's chambers, where he is getting ready to go.

While Arthur and the other knights saddle up the horses and shit like that, Merlin goes for a chat with the hunting hounds. Some of the hounds bully him cos he's tiny compared to them and thinks he's nuts when he says he's really a human, but makes friends with a hound called Max.

Merlin sits with Artur on his horse, but when the hunt starts, he instinctively wants to run off with the hounds (another doggy trait coming through there =P). However, fully grown hounds run faster than him and he ends up riding on Max's back =P

Merlin is horrified when Max lunges at a fox and drags it down. Max tells him he doesn't like killing, but he does it for the treats he gets =P Sure enough, he takes it back to Arthur and gets a chunk of meat. Arthur picks Jet up and puts him on the saddle so he doesn't get lost and they continue the hunt. Merlin keeps his eyes pealed for Gaius or his clothes.

Nimueh has been sneaky-sneaking around the area for a while, and she knows about Merlin and Gaius's plan. And being the evil motherless bitch that she is, she decides there is only one logical thing to do; SABOTAGE! =D (Note - Nimueh is doing dirty cheating here. Is important to story)

She does what Morgause did and posesses Torrento (Arthur's cool horsey =P), making him buck, change direction, rear up and generally go mad so that Arthur doesn't get close enough to see the clothes Gaius has planted nearby. Torrento eventually managed to throw both Arthur and Merlin off. Merlin goes smack wollop into a tree, and Arthur lands in a pile of mud. Knights make jokes about it and laugh, Arthur gives death glare, picks up Jet and skulks off back to Camelot to clean up while the knights carry on hunting.

Merlin is sad and sulky because the plan failed. All evening, he is in a bad mood and refuses to be happeh. Until one of the knights comes in with the clothes they found in the forest, recognising them as Merlin's. Merlin goes happeh happeh when Arthur recognises them as his.

Arthur recognises them as his alright, but gets the wrong idea and starts panicking, thinking that Merlin is in lost in the forest somewhere (evidently without any clothes on XD).

He starts raving to himself, and Jet, when he is heard by Morgana and Gwen who "just happen to be in the area" =P

All 3 decide to set out the next morning to go look for Merlin in ze forest. Merlin is in awkward posision here. (yayz for awkwardness =D)

The next morning, Arthur leaves early with Morgana and Gwen, while Merlin is panicking, not knowing what to do.

Before he leaves, Arthur ties Jet to the table by his lead so that he can't escape anywhere and cause mayhem. Merlin is annoyed and angry because he was gonna go talk to Gaius about ze

issue at hand.

At some point during the day, Merlin's old pal Nimueh turns up to show off about how time's running out and Arthur will never miss him cos he doesn't care about him enough. Merlin argues that he does cos he's gone to look for him, but Nimueh says it's not enough. Merlin says he will make Arthur break the spell. Nimueh runs out of come-backs and casts a spell to make him sleep until after the eclipse. (Nimeuh's dirty cheating).

Out in ze forest, Arthur Morgana and Gwen have been searching all day and no sign of Merlin. Gwen and Morgana are going mad with worry, Arthur puts a brave face on it. Towards sunset, Morgana says they should turn back for the night, Arthur yells at her for not caring about Merlin. Morgana wants to know why he cares so much about Merlin (just a servant and all that jazz). Arthur goes off on a rant about how Merlin has saved him, now he needs to save Merlin, he's his best friend, etc etc, then...

"I MISS HIM!"

HALLE-FUCKING-LUJAH! WE GOT THERE! ARTHUR MISSES MERLIN!

Because the spell has just broken, there is a massive freak storm involving heavy rain, lightning, thunder, black skies, the full monty. Arthur and co. hurry home right away.

Up in Arthur's chambers, Merlin (who is still sleeping) has just been struck by lightning and turned from black German Shepherd puppy to his normal human self.

(which is kinda weird because he looks EXACTLY like Colin Morgan! XD)

Arthur goes back up to his chambers, all sad and worried about Merlin. But he need not worry! Because Merlin is asleep on his floor! ... Nekkid! ... And wearing Jet's collar and lead...?

WTF?

MERLIN WAS JET?

WTF IS GOING ON HERE?

Wakes Merlin up, stands and stares as Merlin goes mad and is like "yaaaay! Fingers, no tail, skin, COLOURS!"

Arthur: "Uuuuuh, Merlin?"

Merlin *iz too happeh to care* Yh?

Arthur: You iz nekkid.

Merlin: O_O

Arthur: *facepalm*

*later*

Merlin (who now wrapped in blanket) has been explaining to Arthur how he became a puppy. Tells Arthur about Nimueh and how the spell was broken. Mentions he was worried Arthur wouldn't miss him. Arthur takes this moment to declare his luuuurve. Pounces on Merlin, ready for steamy bed action.

AVERT THINE EYES, CHILDREN!

Arthur stops snogging long enough to compliment Merlin on his dog breath (XD)

Down in Ole Slashy's lare, Nimueh has come to visit. Slashy is bragging about how he's just won the bet, and Nimueh is sulking and saying it was a stupid bet anyways.

The bet goes like this: Ole Slashy and Nimueh were arguing about how much Arthur and Merlin lurve eachother.

Slashy: Come on, they so love eachother!

Nimueh: Nuh-uh!

Slashy: Uh-huh!

Nimueh: Nuh-uh!

Slashy: Wanna bet?

Nimueh: Oki =D

Ole Slashy remembers that Nimueh had cheated several times, and says that all wrong-do-ers get their reward in the end...

Nimueh = kitteh!

MWAHAHAHAHA! XD

END OF STORY!

(Thank God *pants for breath*)

**AAAAAAAAND, this is officially the end of The Prince and the Puppy. I know! Sad times! :"(**

**We'd both like to thank everyone who's read our story. We've loved reading your reviews as much as we hope you've liked reading our story.**

**And finally, another huuuuuuge thank you from both of us for your support throughout this story. We've enjoyed writing it for you as much as we hope you have enjoyed reading it. **

**THANK YOU, AND GOODNIGHT! (or morning, or whatever time it is that you're reading this) :P **

**Maltese-Sapphire and Maltesegirl50**

****


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